2020-12-31-accounts

Trustees report 2020/2021

Kent Model United Nations Society endured a difficult 2020/21 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, KentMUN’s major objective is to spread the value of multilateralism through simulation of the United Nations, by taking members to conferences held at Universities throughout the UK and globally and to set up and facilitate conferences for high school students through partners. Unfortunately, the pandemic made attending these conferences impossible which drastically reduced the operations of the Society. Multiple digital conferences were attended by members but internal conferences for high school students, which defined the core charitable mission of the society did not occur this year.

Due to the nature of constant changing executive committee and members due to the nature of us being University student based and that creating difficulty with relevance of trustee and committee relationship exacerbated by the communication barriers of the pandemic we proposed a new structure for selection of trustees:

Terms and Electon of new Trustees:

Electon of trustees:

1. Terms:

1. Each Trustee will have a term of 1 year following the timeframe of the election of a new KentMUN Executive Committee with a 10 day transition period after the end of the Committee election whereby the current board remains in power to ensure the orderly election of a new board;

2. There shall be no term limits for Trustees;

1. Chair of the Board:

1. The role of Chair of the Board of Trustees will automatically pass to the previous years President of KentMUN on completion of the term laid out in clause 1 (they will already be a Trustee as laid out in clause 3):

2. This can only be overruled by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees (excluding the Chair apparent laid out in clause 2a);

3. In the event of a Trustee board overrule election of a new Chair of the Board will follow the election process laid out in clause 2b;

4. In the event of an impeachment the election of a new Chair of the Board will follow the election process laid out in clause 2b;

5. ii. In the event the Chair apparent refuses/voted/impeached down to the role of Chair of the Board the Trustees will elect a new Chair of the Board:

6. The new chair can be a current Trustee or a new Trustee;

   1. The previous Chair of the Board can be considered for a second term as Chair in this event;

   2. The new Chair must be elected by unanimous consent of the Board

7. Nominations:

8. In the event of a vacancy any Trustee member may nominate someone to fill the vacancy

   1. It is recommended this role of nominating members to fill vacancies is left to the active President of KentMUN

   2. Nominatinees my submit to the Trustees information as to why they should be elected to the Board

   3. Election of a new member shall require the unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees

1. Executor of above rules:

1. It will be the role of the most senior member of the Board to ensure these rules are followed;

2. Seniority is determined by date first appointed as Trustee (found in UK Charity Commission information);

3. The executor may not be the Chair of the Board from the previous term year: 1. In the event the Chair of the Board from the previous year is the most senior member the next most senior member takes over the job of executor;

b. Impeachment:

• i. Any member of the board is susceptible to impeachment

• ii. Any member of the board my put forward an article of impeachment

• The article should state the reasons for impeachment it is then down to the Chair of the Board to organise a vote within 10 days of the article being filed

  1. In the event that the Chair of the Board is the member who the article of impeachment is referring too it will be the job of the executor as laid out in clause x to scheduled a vote within 10 days of the article being filed

• ii. A vote to impeach and remove a member of the board of Trustees must gain unanimous consent of the Board with the exception of the person being considered for impeachment

• iii. In the event of the chair being impeached it is the job of he executor to organise a vote on a new chair within 10 days

1. Amendments:

1. Any amendments to the constitution can be submitted by any trustee and will require the unanimous vote of the Board to pass

2. It is the job of the Chair to amend the Constitution in the relevant documents

However, due to difficulties with the pandemic we were unable to formalize this new structure to bring stability to the board and have as such fallen behind on the required annual return forms and upkeep of the board of trustees.

Upon discussion within the trustees, we decided that due to the fact the society is only just gaining momentum again as we recover from the pandemic that the principal focus moving forward should be regaining membership and attending conferences. The major chartable divisions that were reliant on external partners will take time to rebuild as we bounce back from the pandemic. We have thus voted unanimously to close the charity. KentMUN itself will continue as a university society but we feel the post-pandemic goals are about rebuilding membership and day to day activities.

Trustees report:

Michael Webb (Chair)

Simeon Onaji

Justin Koeiman

Financial report:

Due to the pandemic financial activity was very limited with general upkeep costs no longer required so the priority became funding digital conference fees in the light of the pandemic

Accounts:

Income:

Kent Union, Kent University Grant:

Paid society £450 grant

Membership fees:

Paid £50

Expenditure:

£500

Society upkeep - digital conference fees