ICAEW members who volunteer as charity trustees are now within the scope of ICAEW’s CPD regulations. If the only work you carry out within a CPD year* is volunteering as a charity trustee, you are required to complete:

• an hour of verifiable ethics training (I recommend ICAEW’s free Ethics CPD course), which isn’t directly related to charities but helps you explore ethical considerations that will be useful for your trustee role, and
• verifiable charity-specific training (I recommend our CPD course for charity trustees).

If you are an ICAEW member who holds other paid role(s) but also volunteers as a charity trustee, you are strongly encouraged to undertake some charity-related CPD as necessary for your role.

The course is still free for all. We’ve split the course into two recordings (each ca. 40 minutes):

• Part 1 covers the fundamentals of being a charity trustee, including what constitutes a charity. It helps you consider what sort of organisation you are involved with, how it is regulated and explains six key trustee responsibilities. If you are confident that you are familiar with this, you may choose to watch only Part 2.
• Part 2 looks at current and upcoming developments that might impact your role as a charity trustee. We update Part 2 every year, whereas Part 1 is designed to be enduring. This year, Part 2 covers updates to charity regulation and guidance, expected changes to FRS 102 and the Charities SORP, news from the Fundraising Regulator, the Charity Governance Code and more.

Don't forget to log your CPD activity. Once you've watched the video, you can add this CPD activity to your online membership record using the AddCPD tool in the bottom right-hand corner of the course page. You just need to click on the AddCPD button and answer the questions.

The course is now available from the Charity Community homepage, or you can click here to start the course.

The CPD course differs from our Trustee Training Modules in four key aspects:

1. The CPD course for charity trustees is designed for ICAEW members, i.e. takes into consideration that you are a chartered accountant and may be relied upon to provide financial insight and expertise to the rest of the board, whereas our Trustee Training Modules are more general and designed for all charity trustees.
2. Each year, Part 2 of the CPD course is updated to report on new developments in the sector. The Trustee Training Modules, on the other hand, are designed to be enduring. The annual updates to them are minimal and, therefore, we don’t recommend re-taking the Trustee Training Modules each year. 
3. The CPD course is a short, pre-recorded webinar, whereas the Trustee Training Modules require more active learning, use a range of learning materials (reading materials, video recordings, reflective activities, quizzes) and take longer to complete; on average 4-6 hours.
4. There is no assessment at the end of the CPD course, whereas the Trustee Training Modules end with an (optional) assessment.

If you are new to the charity sector and the trustee role, I recommend starting with our Trustee Training Modules. Otherwise, the CPD course for charity trustees is a great option to keep up-to-date and meet your CPD requirements.