News

Cue and Review's Board Enters the New Age - 30 May 2001

Being a farsighted organisation the board of Cue & Review Recording Service has recently begun to implement virtual committee meetings. With 157 voting members made up primarily of listeners drawn from throughout the UK it is important for the organisation to ensure that adequate structures are put in place to make sure the proper planning can take place. Here is how things are working.

Every three years we produce a strategy document pulling together the views of our listeners, volunteers and what is going on in the voluntary, public and private sector. This document is then presented in draft to our board, which takes this forward as a series of aims and objectives to our AGM (annual general meeting). Once voted upon this then becomes the means by which our Operations Director, Managing Editor, Board and Voluntary team can monitor how effective their work has been. The AGMs in between these tri-annual meetings are used to ensure that the membership is updated on the progress towards our targets.

We previously worked within the formal setting of having a board meeting every three months where members were asked to attend a chaired meeting within the office in an evening. Recent commitments made it necessary for an experimental system of virtual meetings to be organised. In this way we hope to lessen the need for people to turn out in the evening with this being replaced by reports emailed or snail mailed to individuals who can read them at leisure. Votes are cast using the ballot form provided. Board members are of course able to make their own recommendations as required, or to organise a meeting on specific topics where required.

To ensure the efficient management of our finances we have produced tri-annual projections that again we are working towards. Our finance committee has also been set up to ensure democratic responsibility for the way in which our funds are spent. The two executive members along with three non-executive members ensure that the monies are spent on the projects for which they were raised. This group has worked as a virtual committee for some time.

We have recently produced, but as yet not ratified, a code of governance (recommended by the National Council of Voluntary Organisations). Once implemented this document will clearly outline the responsibilities of non-executive directors.