Follow your own rules: If you have a legal governing document, make sure all the Committee members have a copy and understand it. Make sure that your meetings and the rest of the Committee’s work follow it, for instance when it comes to electing new members. Always remember what the organisation was set up to do.

Check which laws and regulations apply to your organisation: This could be quite a long list, and you may need to get outside advice. Depending on what kind of governing document your organisation has, you might need to comply with the law on charities, companies or Industrial and Provident Societies. And depending on whether the organisation employs staff, and what kind of work it does, you may need to know about some or all of: employment law, health and safety, data protection, anti-discrimination, child protection, protection of vulnerable adults and more besides.