Not all nonprofit trustees can be trusted as is highlighted in the UK's Third Sector On-line.
The case in question:
The charity's then chair and treasurer had been paid for five years for acting as its chief executive and deputy chief executive respectively, according to the commission's inquiry report, released yesterday.
The inquiry found that the treasurer had written out and signed at least two cheques to himself as payment for his services. The cheques had previously been signed in a blank form by another trustee – a practice that had been going on at the charity for 27 years.
I suppose the good news is that there was sort of a check-and-ballance (well, another trustee was signing the checks). And, the chair of the nonprofit was subsequently removed by the trustees. However, the treasurer was not removed "in the wake of an internal decision review after he and the rest of the trustees made a number of pledges, including to stop paying trustees and pre-signing blank cheques." On the other hand, the treasurer is no longer treasurer. I guess he has more friends than the previous Chair.
So questions: when a nonprofit's board is also staff (whether as individuals or in committees) should they be compensated? And if also staff, what checks-and-balances can be put into place to ensure the situation played out in this case is avoided? And, why wasn't that treasurer booted out too?
Comments