Bye Laws

Bye-law #1
management fees on gifts

The board of trustees reserve the right to allocate up to 10% of any gift received in support of a specific project or purpose (a ‘restricted’ donation) towards the general costs of administering and managing the work required to enable the donor’s wishes to be fulfilled; where a gift is made without any specification as to how the money is to be spent (an ‘unrestricted’ donation) then up to 100% of the gift could be spent on ensuring that the charity has the ability to administer and manage its affairs to meet regulatory and supporters’ expectations. In order to ensure that as much money as possible can be spent on fulfilling the aims of the charity, management and administration costs are kept to a minimum and are reviewed and challenged on a regular basis by trustees.

BYE-LAW #2
APPOINTMENT OF HONORARY OFFICERS

The charity’s Articles make no provision for the creation of any posts that might be held by honorary officers and it is under no duty to maintain roles such as Treasurer, Secretary or Chairman, the latter role only being specified as required to enable the business of meetings of members and the trustees to proceed with clear rules laid out as to how a Chairman is to be elected meeting-by-meeting. In dealings with members and external parties, however, the ability to convey the specific role of one or more trustees may be deemed beneficial and so the board of trustees reserve the right to create positions for honorary officers and to appoint one of their number to such role or roles and to then review those posts and appointments on a regular basis.

BYE-LAW #3 TRUSTEE MEMBERSHIP

Trustees are Woodland Heritage’s hardest working volunteers and must be members of the Charity when in office.

Should a Trustee cease to be a member of Woodland Heritage, they would automatically be disqualified to act as a director of the charity (Article 39(3))

When a Trustee is appointed they may be a member of Woodland Heritage already, but others might not; in order to attract a range of individuals from different backgrounds the need to be a member and thus potentially to have to pay each year to be a Trustee should not be a deterrent.

The directors may establish classes of membership with different rights and obligations and shall record the rights and obligations in the register of members. (Article 11(1))

Trustee Membership is a membership class to be made available to all current and future Trustees; this class shall have no preferential rights other than the need to pay an ongoing membership fee shall be waived, shall have the same duties as any other level of membership, and shall be solely available to serving Trustees.

Upon resigning or retiring from the role of Trustee, Trustee Membership shall cease at the same time for the Trustee concerned.

Upon the expiry of Trustee Membership, the former-Trustee shall be free to take up membership of Woodland Heritage at any other class made available to the general public.

At the discretion of Trustees, on a case-by-case basis and with notable reason for so acting (e.g. length or effectiveness of service), Honorary Membership may be conferred upon a departing Trustee by the board of Trustees and be duly minuted at one of its meetings.