1 April 2025

Would you like to stand for the Sedos Board of Trustees or the Management Committee? Find out more below.

Sedos elections

The AGM on 29 May 2024 from 7pm in the Passmore Edwards room at the St Bride’s Institute (above the Bridewell Theatre) is a chance for members to:

• Hear a report from the chair of the Board of Trustees (Matt Gould) and chair of the Management Committee (Adrian Hau) regarding the financial year ending 31 December 2024;
• Hear about upcoming plans for the society;
• Ask questions of the leadership groups of the societies and have your say;
• Elect members to the vacant positions on the Board of Trustees and Management Committee; and
• Socialise with other members.

This year we have a number of positions open for election on the Board of Trustees and Management Committee. We are always looking for new and diverse voices, different skill sets and people with the energy to take action on the behind-the-scenes administration of Sedos.  The most important thing, though, is the desire to take positive action to help administer the society and maintain its vibrancy!

We want to have as broad a range as possible of our membership involved in the administrative leadership of the society – the wider the breadth of experience and different lived experience creates better decision-making and different voices ensure that all of our membership and stakeholders are properly represented. We want people who are willing to donate their time to making Sedos a better society for all of our members. While we welcome anybody to apply, we would particularly welcome

• A greater degree of female and gender non-binary/fluid representation;
• A greater degree of representation of people of minority ethnic backgrounds; and
• People with corporate fund-raising and charity governance experience.

Please see below for more details on the relevant positions that will be open for election.

If you need more information, please contact Sedos chair of the Board of Trustees Matt Gould on [email protected].

Trustees

The Board of Trustees’ primary responsibility is to ensure the long-term financial health of the society, as well as ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and financial reporting obligations. The Board of Trustees has and must accept responsibility for directing the affairs of Sedos, ensuring it is solvent and well-managed, and that it acts within its charitable objects.

Trustees are expected to set the strategic direction of Sedos and provide oversight and challenge to the other leadership groups, in particular the Management Committee; they are not expected to be involved in day-to-day operational considerations.

The role is unpaid. Meetings are held in central London.

For information on the legal responsibilities of charity trustees, please read: “The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do”, The Charities Commission (May 2018).

Eligibility

To be elected as a Trustee, the following criteria apply:

• You must be over 16 years old;
• You must be a member of Sedos;
• You must have been a member of Sedos for at least 12 months prior to your election;
• You must not have been disqualified as acting as a trustee under the Charities Act.

Skills, experience, expertise and an interest in accounting, governance or in the fundraising or property sector would be of particular benefit to the society given the current balance of skills among existing Trustees.

Time commitment

The Trustees generally hold five Board meetings a year. In addition Trustees are expected to actively participate in one or more of the sub-committees as well as attend an annual strategy day and the AGM. We encourage Trustees to attend our shows (with opportunities to obtain a free ticket for most shows).

Length of term

Typically, the term for newly elected Trustees will be three years in the first instance, with the possibility of re-election for additional three-year terms without limit.

At the 2025 AGM, at least five elected Trustee positions will be vacant.

Specific roles

The Trustees elect / assign amongst themselves the roles of chair, secretary and Trustee with financial responsibility.

Management Committee members

Day-to-day responsibility for running and managing the society is delegated to a Management Committee (which is also elected from the society’s membership pursuant to the terms of reference of the Management Committee decided by the Board of Trustees), with the Board retaining an oversight role.

Each role is elected for a period of two years with half of the group standing down/for re-election every year. This year there are a number of positions available for election.

Once elected, the Management Committee meet monthly. While there are no constitutional positions on the Management Committee other than the chair, at the first meeting after the AGM the Management Committee will agree on various job-scopes and roles which include:

• Chair (who is ex officio / automatically also a Trustee)
• Administrative director (i.e. secretary)
• Treasurer
• Production budget controller
• Marketing group lead
• Production group lead
• Membership group lead
• Committee liaisons for productions
• Bridewell liaison
• IT manager
• Front of house/box office coordinator
• Diversity and inclusion lead

Management Committee members may also be co-opted on to various sub-committees of the Trustees. Generally however, the Management Committee members work together to do all that is needed to ensure our productions and membership events run smoothly and successfully in line with the policies and guidelines laid down by the Board of Trustees.

A variety of skill sets are required, but the main attribute needed is the willingness to get involved, roll the sleeves up and work towards making the operations of the society an overall success.

What do I need to do in order to run?

If you want to run for any of the above positions, here’s what you need to do:

• Candidates should send their application to [email protected] and [email protected].
• An application should clearly state what role or roles they are applying for.
• Although you may apply for both Board of Trustee and Management Committee roles, please consider which of these best suits your particular skill set and only apply for the appropriate one.  If you are unsure as to where best your skill set may lie and where you could add most benefit, please contact Matt and Adrian to discuss.
• An application should be accompanied by 50-75 words on your past involvement with Sedos and 50-75 words about why you want to apply and what you think they would bring to the role you are applying for (this is required for the AGM notice and will be publicised). You only need to do this once, regardless of the positions you are standing for. Should there be a contested election, you will also be granted the opportunity to speak briefly at the AGM.
• Applications must be received by midnight on Thursday 1 May 2025 (four weeks before the AGM) so if there are multiple candidates we can properly advertise the candidates to members before the AGM. Applications after this date may be disregarded.