Board of Trustees Report - October 2011

The Association's Board of Trustees met on 21/22 October 2011 in Northampton, where they:

• Were presented with the draft budget for 2012/13 by Alasdair McLeish, Director of Finance. While the Association remains a strong and financially viable organisation, he explained the current year’s deficit was largely owing to a drop in income from major donors and legacies as well as a large overspend in national care. Chair, Mark Todd, said there would be engagement between members, trustees and key directors to draw up a budget that would be acceptable to the Board in January. Chief Executive, Kirstine Knox, pointed out that there had been a five-fold increase in requests for financial support in the past three years and this pressure was likely to increase.

• Were updated on the Picker Institute Studycommissioned by the Association,toinvite people living with MND to give their views on end-of-life decision making. The research will help the Association develop appropriate services and support for people with MND.

• Agreed to support a £50,000 research project to screen DNA Bank samples. The costs are being underwritten by a major donor.

• Approved four ‘A-rated’ biomedical research grants, recommended for funding by the Biomedical Research Advisory Panel (BRAP).

• Co-opted Sandra Osborne and Michael Ranson on to the Board of Trustees.

• Agreed to inviteChris Broad be invited to become a Patron of the Association.

• Granted applications submitted for branch Presidents and Patrons, and requested the Governance Committee redesign the application form so that more details could be submitted.

• Discussed the very positive comments received about the venue for the 2011 AGM/Annual conference. The same hotel had already been booked for 2012. Jean Waters proposed the programme of the day be changed so the main speaker presents in the morning, with the AGM later in the day.