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- This involved on at least one occasion engaging the charity’s lawyer to join a board meeting. It is recognised though that the broad intentions of these policies were not always implemented to the standard expected by the movement. A declaration of interests register was established but could have been made more widely accessible earlier.
- Trustees with potential conflicts of interest usually declared this and offered to absent themselves from board meetings but this was not always as clearly recorded as it might have been.
- One of the more difficult potential types of conflicts of interest to identify and manage is when the potential benefit is indirect or delayed. The transfer of ownership of QRpedia intellectual property was not resolved quickly and that lack of resolution and associated matters created the risk of outsiders perceiving a potential conflict of interest. This was also the case with respect to GilbraltarpediA where a potential conflict of interest risked causing confusion.
- When a trustee accepts consultancy fees from an organisation with which the charity or movement is working or might work, however well managed, it creates an opportunity for the charity’s reputation to be damaged and therefore will usually require the trustee to resign as a trustee. This is particularly the case when the consultancy is with the chair of the charity, who carries a particular responsibility for managing conflicts of interest.
- There is a need for communication from trustees to be clear about the capacity in which they are communicating, as a trustee or a private individual, and in a manner that makes this clear to the reader/listener.
- Within a movement it is appropriate that those involved in requesting a product, service or right from another organisation within that movement should proactively effectively identify any potential conflict at the time of the request. In our view this should happen however public the potential conflict of interest may be.
- It proved challenging to manage potential conflicts of interest amongst a group of committed voluntary enthusiasts who were working closely together to build the organisation. Wikimedia UK did more than might be expected for a charity of its size and age to establish policies and procedures for managing conflicts of interest. However, the organisation did not always manage to stand back from the detail of the policies and recognise the dangers of not taking greater and more decisive action.
- When a candidate standing for election for trustee at an AGM declares in their election statement the actual and potential conflicts of interest that arise if they
Compass Partnership
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