Board of Trustees Report - 10 July 2010

The Association’s board of trustees met on 10 July 2010 in Kettering, where they:

• Re-appointed Prof Victor Patterson, retired neurologist and former director of the Northern Ireland MND Care Network, as a co-opted member of the board.
• Approved and signed the Trustees’ Annual Report, including our audited accounts for 2009/10, ahead of its circulation to all members for adoption at our Annual General Meeting in September. The board also endorsed the content of a separate ‘Impact Report’ which focuses on the impact of our activities for people affected by MND.
• Examined a report by our auditors, produced as part of our annual accounts auditing process, which highlighted the need to improve our practices in some areas, for example, how we ensure cover for essential financial processes – this is in hand.
• Approved an amendment to our reserves policy, which sets out a target for how much of our income we should ‘set aside’ to ensure we can continue providing services for people with MND if there was a dramatic or unforeseen cut in our expected income. The amendment reflects the need to recognise amongst our reserves readily realisable assets or ‘near cash’, such as amounts invested in fixed-interest deposit accounts.
• Discussed a reforecasting of our budgeted income and expenditure for 2011/12 and beyond in light of the current economic situation. The aim is to ensure our budget planning is robust in balancing the demands on the Association to provide support with our likely income.
• Renewed grant support for the Oxford MND Care Centre, a centre of excellence within the UK for MND support.
• Agreed to confer honorary membership on all founder members of the Association, as a way to acknowledge their role in forming the Association and their continuous 30 years plus contribution to supporting its development.
• Approved the establishment of a clinical fellowship in MND from 2011 following completion of a successful pilot.