New edition of the Handbook for trustees of Quaker meetings
Quaker Life is now responsible for supporting area meeting charities and giving them advice and guidance on good governance. They have recently finished a 2024 edition of the trustees handbook.
Since Quaker Stewardship (QSC) was laid down and handed its responsibilities to Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC) we have been aware that the trustee handbook has needed updating. QLCC discerned that revising the handbook was an urgent piece of work and set up a small project group to write a brief and decide on how to carry out the work.
After time and consultation, it was agreed that Quaker Life and Woodbrooke would work on this project together to better integrate the support for Quaker communities. Woodbrooke appointed Rhiannon Grant to work with the project board to carry out the research and writing for the new resource.
The new handbook focuses more on supporting the aspects of trusteeship that are specifically Quaker. It is grounded in spirituality and uses examples of practice shared by Friends doing the work. The new handbook tries to avoid replicating advice that is given by the charity regulators, signposting to where this advice is available instead.
Throughout 2023 Friends had the opportunity to contribute to the development of the handbook through various consultation sessions. Having finalised the text and gone through the design process Quaker Life is pleased to share the new version of the handbook.