Programme
1:30pm  Registration & networking
2:00pm  Welcome: Sir Henry-Aubrey Fletcher, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
2:10pm  Keynote speaker: Alex Skailes, Director, Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School
                Trust and Transparency: why it matters and what you can do

2:35pm  Top tips to improve trust – hear from experts on different areas:

• Governance: Paul Ridout, Partner, IBB Solicitors
• Board Diversity: Ellie Urben, TrusteeWorks Manager, Reach Volunteering
• Highlighting the difference we make: Veronica Corben, Chair, Winslow Big Society Group
• Transparency in Finances: Martin Hubbard, Director of Customer and Business Support, Charity Finance Group (CFG)

3:10pm  Refreshment break

3:40pm Breakout sessions

• Managing Board Relationships: John Williams, Vice Chair, Association of Chairs
• Managing Risk: Michael Schindler, Specialist in Compliance, Michael Schindler Associates
• Planning for Sustainability: Emma Low MA MInstF (Dip), Head of Fundraising and Communications, Fight Bladder Cancer; Co-Chair of the Chilterns branch of the Institute of Fundraising

4:45pm Chair of Speaker Panel Q & A Session: Philippa Sawyer, Programme Director & Co-Founder, Wycombe Sound

5:15pm Close: Nigel Palmer, Trustee, Community Impact Bucks 

Event Sponsor

Photograpy Sponsor

Ellie Walpole, FishPole Photography

Always with a camera in hand – Ellie quickly finds the right place to be.  Capturing moments of joy, enthusiasm or concentration when documenting events. Be it a conference, a team building event, a party or celebration she can provide an edited album of photos that can quickly be used for social media and beyond.

Having worked with schools (including special schools) to create both child and staff portraits plus a number of corporate groups for business and linkedIN profile pages she knows how to help individuals relax in front of the camera to create their portrait. FishPole Photography

With a degree in architecture and further qualification in photography from University of the Arts London her portfolio of interiors, gardens and architecture can be seen here

Ellie can be contacted on 07796 087 243 or elliewalpole@me.com

Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher,HM Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire

Henry Aubrey-Fletcher lives and works in Buckinghamshire. He is director of a range of companies involved in rural economic activity including farming, property management, a nursing home and leisure. He spent thirty years in radio broadcasting both for the BBC and ILR. He was a founding director of Mix 96 in Aylesbury.

​In public life nationally he takes a keen interest in the historic and natural environment. He represented the CLA on the National Trust Council for 11 years serving as Chairman of the Properties Committee and then as Deputy Chairman of the Trust. He was the founding Chairman of the Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Natural Environment Partnership and chairs the Bucks Rural Affairs Group (BRAG).

He is a trustee of rural estates in the private, NGO and public sectors He has been the Prime Minister’s Appointed Trustee at Chequers since 1997.

Keynote Speaker:
Alex Skailes, Director, Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School

Alex leads the nonprofit consultancy and professional development services for the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School (Cass CCE) and is the co-lead for the Resource Management teaching on the MSc Charities programme.

She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA), holds their post graduate diploma in charity accounting and has an MSc with distinction from Cass Business School in Voluntary Sector Management. In addition to this, she is on the finance and audit committee of the Seckford Foundation.

Alex’s PhD research focuses on charity mergers and acquisitions and explores the factors that drive this form of organisational change and the resultant social value created.

Veronica Corben, Chair, Winslow Big Society Group

Following an extensive career spanning over 40 years in the NHS which culminated with her position as Assistant Director of Nursing at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Veronica Corben now focuses her skills and time on the local voluntary sector and its integration with the NHS. She currently chairs several local charities including Winslow Big Society Group which was set up in 2012 to fill the gaps in general services and provision to the Winslow community.

Martin Hubbard, Director of Customer and Business Support, Charity Finance Group (CFG)

An experienced accountancy professional, Martin takes the lead on the organisation’s finance and accountancy functions. Martin brings considerable experience to the role: he worked for seven years as Finance Manager at Anti-Slavery International and prior to that he spent around 20 years in various financial and management accounting roles in Local Government, mainly within Surrey County Council. Martin was also for several years Treasurer of a small charity, Dalit Solidarity Network UK.

Emma Low MA MInstF (Dip), Head of Fundraising and Communications, Fight Bladder Cancer; Co-Chair of the Chilterns branch of the Institute of Fundraising

Emma has 24 years’ work experience in the not-for profit sector in marketing, fundraising and project development. Past roles have included Head of Fundraising at Crisis and Executive Director of Marketing at Asthma UK. After 15 years of freelance consultancy, Emma went back into a paid fundraising role in 2018 at Fight Bladder Cancer – a national charity start-up. She was so inspired by the founder’s vision, the patients and families she met and the injustice of so little media and fundraising attention on bladder cancer that she agreed to join the team to lead the charity’s fundraising growth.  In her spare time, Emma is Co-Chair of the Chilterns branch of the Institute of Fundraising, and a trustee of Youth Concern, Aylesbury – a local charity working with at risk and vulnerable young people.

Paul Ridout, Partner & Head of Charities Practice, IBB Solicitors (Event Sponsor)

Paul Ridout joined IBB in 2016 with sixteen years’ experience of advising charities and similar organisations. His legal career began after nearly eight years spent working at the Charity Commission in a variety of roles including as Secretary to the Board of Commissioners.

He is described by his peers as “knowledgeable and practical” (Legal 500) and enjoys deploying his detailed understanding of the voluntary sector and of the technical legal issues involved to help charities and other voluntary groups to achieve their aims.

Philippa Sawyer, Programme Director & Co-Founder, Wycombe Sound

Philippa spent 20 years in business before retraining in radio production. She has worked in many community stations as a presenter, producer and trainer. Pippa is a founder of Wycombe Sound 106.6fm and presents the weekday Breakfast Show.

Michael Schindler, Michael Schindler Associates and Transformational Policing

Michael is a  board advisor and organisational change specialist who combines strategic vision with high-level operational capabilities, whose career has been marked by successful transformation initiatives with FTSE 100 companies, government departments and NGO’s.

He is a Trustee of The Royal Air Force Museum and in that role chairs the Commercial Board as well as being a member of the Audit & Risk, Staffing and Remuneration and Development Committees. He has been a volunteer with CIB for 5 years.

His work in the financial services and not for profit sectors have concentrated on regulatory compliance, risk and governance as well as mentoring board members. Activities in Security and Law Enforcement have been in Risk Analysis and practice review. Activities in Security and Law Enforcement have been in Risk Analysis and practice review. W: https://www.tpassociates.co.uk/

Ellie Urben, TrusteeWorks Manager, Reach Volunteering

Eleanor Urben is the TrusteeWorks Manager at Reach Volunteering. Reach Volunteering are the single biggest source of trustees for the voluntary sector in the UK.

The TrusteeWorks team specialise in trustee recruitment and Eleanor has worked with a range of charities across the UK to secure chairs, treasurers and trustees.

John Williams, Vice Chair, Association of Chairs

John is Vice Chair of the Association of Chairs, set up in 2013 to support Chairs of charities and other non-profits and to promote good governance.  John has a professional background in public relations, advertising and marketing.  He is a co-founder and former Chair of the communications consultancy Fishburn Hedges, now FleishmanHillard.Fishburn.

Since then, he has taken on a number of advisory and non-executive roles, notably in the charity sector, focusing particularly on leadership and governance. He served as a Charity Commissioner for five years up to 2010; was Chair of the governance and leadership think tank Tomorrow’s Company; and Deputy Chair of ChildLine up to its merger with the NSPCC.  John is a longstanding board member at Business in the Community, and a more recently appointed trustee of the Institute of Business Ethics.  He has also chaired the regional tourism board Tourism South East, and a commercial theatre production company, so comes with experience of a wide variety of boardroom dynamics and contrasting board members.  In addition, John acts as a governance consultant and a pro bono mentor of charity Chairs and CEOs.

• Being accountable for the difference we make. Veronia Corben, Chair, Winslow Big Society Group
  Veronica will share her experiences as Chair of Winslow Big Society Group (WBSG), giving advice on how to demonstrate impact through project outcomes and success stories. Using WBSG’s new volunteer model as an example, she will give tips on how to inspire confidence through strong leadership, good networking and a total commitment to volunteers. 
• Governance: Paul Ridout, Partner & Head of Charities Practice, IBB Solicitors
  Paul will outline a few top tips in the area of governance which improve the confidence and trust which supporters, funders and volunteers place in charities and other not-for profit organisations.
• Achieving Board Diversity: Ellie Urben, TrusteeWorks Manager, Reach Volunteering
  Ellie will explain the importance of having a diverse Board in order to inspire trust in both beneficiaries and the wider public.  Drawing on her considerable knowledge and experience, Ellie will share her top tips for attaining a varied Board, leaving delegates with the confidence to pursue this in their own organisations.
• Transparency in Finances: Martin Hubbard, Director of Customer and Business Support, Charity Finance Group (CFG)
  Martin will share some of his top tips on how to present and deal with financial information in a meaningful way which helps funders, supporters and the public to have confidence in the organisation. 

• Managing board relationships: from difficult dynamics to a positive and productive culture
  John Williams, Vice Chair, Association of Chairs
  This workshop will address how the Chair and fellow trustees can create a motivated and productive board, by building trust and mutual support, running effective meetings, ensuring challenge and debate are always constructive, seeking continuous improvement, and by identifying and addressing emerging conflicts.
• Managing Risk – Michael Schindler, Specialist in Compliance, Michael Schindler Associate
  This workshop will help board members to be clear about their responsibilities in managing risk and learn more about practical ways they can identify and manage key risks for their organisation.
• Planning for Sustainability – Co-chair of Chilterns Institute of Fundraising,
  This workshop will help you plan to address some of the common challenges for sustainability of small organisations: financial, people and stakeholder communication.