Constitution

The Foundation was established in 1748 by an Act of Parliament and is regulated by a Scheme (its constitution) originally made by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in 1970.  The Scheme was first registered with the Charity Commission in 1979.  It has been periodically updated since then, with the last update being effected in 1993.

The Foundation's Board of Governors

There are 18 Board members, two ex-officio, nine co-opted and seven nominated.  Board members are eligible for re-appointment when their terms of office expire.  The Foundation's Scheme lays down the organisations who are entitled to nominate members to the Board.

Committee Membership

There are three main Committees reporting directly to the Board - Finance, Grants and Audit & Compliance.  The Committees meet at regular intervals throughout the year (see Meeting Timetable for further details).

All Board members are required to join either the Finance or the Grants Committee with the exception of the Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer who are ex-officio members of both Committees.  The Chair of the Finance Committee is an ex-officio member of the Grants Committee; and the Chair of the Grants Committee is an ex-officio member of the Finance Committee.

Governor Categories:  C = Co-opted member   E = Ex-officio member   N = Nominated member

Code of Conduct

Name		Title	Committee
Prof. Manuel Alvarado	C	Chairman of Grants Committee	Grants
HH Judge Brian Barker QC	C		Grants
The Reverend Christopher Burke	E		Audit & Compliance and Finance
The Reverend Nigel Kirkup	N		Audit & Compliance and Grants
Dr Ray Ellis C Chem, FRSC	N	Deputy Chairman of the Grants Committee	Grants
Kevin Everett OStJ DSc CC	C	Treasurer of the Foundation and Chairman of the Board	Finance and Grants
Graham Forbes FRICS	N	Deputy Chairman of Finance Committee	Finance
Alderman Michael Bear BSc (Eng) MBA	N		Grants
Professor Michael Thorne	C		Grants
Barbara Lane	N		Finance
Helen Meixner CMG	C		Grants
Sarah Dalgarno	C		Audit & Compliance and Finance
Inigo Woolf	N		Finance
Mark Boleat	N		Finance
Mervyn Streatfeild	C		Grants
David Turner	C	Deputy Treasurer and Chairman of Finance Committee	Finance and Grants
David Hogben	C	Chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee	Finance and Audit &   Compliance
The Reverend Laura Burgess	E		Grants

The Foundation's Code of Conduct for Board members was adopted in January 2006 and covers the following:

1. The Nolan Principles and their application to the Board of Governors of the Cass Foundation;
2. Conflict of Interests Policy (which also applies to staff);
3. Governor Expenses Policy;
4. Promoting Good Practice in Personal Behaviour.

Internal Review

The Foundation has been conducting an internal review of strategy and operations since late 2004.  More information about this as well as details of Board member recruitment, induction and training can be found in the Annual Report for 2005-06.

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