Business-like Boards

Whether we like it or not, we are charitable businesses. Or is that an oxymoron? In the current cultural climate, how do we match creative entrepreneurship with our business and charitable responsibilities? This delicate balance challenges all of us involved in strategic leadership and is often skewed by the very organisation trying to achieve it. Maintaining, supporting and developing the delicate balance between responsibility and risk is a core task of the board but, due to the complex nature of organisational structure, frequently results in conservative decision-making not connected with the external business environment or strategic challenges on the horizon. To manage this effectively, and achieve our organisational objectives, we need to ensure that our structure, board and management are fit for purpose.

It is a valuable process to review an organisation’s purposes, even review the original constitution, in order to assess their continued relevance. For example, many arts organisations were originally established for ‘educational purposes’ in order to achieve charitable status. Since the Charity Act 2006 now allows arts as a charitable function, it may now be appropriate to amend the constitution to reflect the purposes of the organisation more fully and accurately. There is a wide range of legal status for arts organisations to explore, including:
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation – a combination of limited liability company and charitable status, regulated by the Charity Commission.
• Community Interest Company – a model being considered by voluntary organisations, focusing on social enterprise and often involving community partners.
• Limited Liability Partnership – a structure which can be ideal for emerging organisations.

Whichever structure is appropriate for your purposes and objectives, you will also need a solid skill-base at all levels within the organisation and particularly at board/advisory group level. Considering the board as a reflection of the organisation’s activity, the competencies of board members should be finance, people/human resources, legal, marketing with an understanding of administration/ management. It is also vital to have artistic input from the same or a sympathetic artform that will support the creative vision of the organisation and hold the artistic staff teams to account. Core business functions may appear run-of-the-mill, yet they are the springboard from which an organisation can leap, take risks, be creative and return to a secure base.

The board, the organisation’s purposes and its structure are all interwoven factors that create the organisation as a legal, separate entity. Ensuring that they are relevant, effective and fit for purpose is vital to success and enabling all of us, volunteer or professional, trustee or manager, artist or participant, to become cultural entrepreneurs.