Should board members of a CSO be paid?
We're having a bit of an internal debate about whether to start paying our board members a small honorarium for attending meetings. Some people think it's fine, others are saying it's not appropriate for a non-profit. We're not talking about much — maybe a few hundred dollars per meeting — just to show appreciation and […]
How do we recruit new board members effectively?
We have two board members stepping down at our next AGM and we really need to bring in some fresh faces. Our usual approach is to ask people we know but that's resulted in a pretty homogeneous board and we're missing key skills — especially around finance and legal matters. Has anyone done a more […]
Do I need to register my community group or NGO under the NPO Act 2019?
We run a small community group in our area — environmental clean-ups, a bit of youth mentorship, that kind of thing. Nothing massive, maybe 15 active members and we raise a few thousand dollars a year through bake sales and small donations. Someone told us we have to register under the NPO Act 2019 but […]
What documents do I need to submit when registering an NPO with the Registrar General?
We've finally decided to register our organisation properly. We've been operating informally for about two years and now a potential donor is asking for our registration certificate before they'll consider us for funding. I went to the Registrar General's website and honestly it's not very clear about exactly what we need to bring. Do we […]
What are Annual Returns and are CSOs required to submit them?
I keep seeing 'Annual Returns' mentioned in things I read about NPO compliance but I honestly don't know what they are or whether we're supposed to be filing them. We've been registered for three years and nobody has ever contacted us about it. Are these the same as tax returns? Do we have to pay […]
What is “beneficial ownership” and what does it mean for our NPO?
I've been reading through some of the new requirements for NPOs and I keep coming across the term 'beneficial ownership' and I genuinely don't understand what it means in our context. I get what it means for a regular business but for a non-profit it seems different. Is it just about who's on the board? […]
How do we manage conflicts of interest on our board?
We've got a situation where one of our board members runs a printing business and we regularly use that business for our publications and event materials. It's been going on for years and nobody ever raised it as an issue. Now we're trying to tighten up our governance and I'm wondering if we need to […]
What are the key responsibilities of a CSO Board of Directors?
I've just joined the board of a small NGO here in T&T and I want to make sure I understand what I've actually signed up for. The organisation has been around for years but I get the feeling the board hasn't been very active — meetings are irregular, most decisions seem to get made by […]