If BRLSI is a charity why do we have a Board of Directors and not a Board of Trustees?
The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution is an unincorporated charity with a corporate trustee; this corporate trustee is a company limited by guarantee, which is governed by a Board of Directors. Paid-up members of the Institution are members of both the charity and company.
As a result, we produce two sets of annual accounts, hold a combined Annual General Meeting, and have to comply with the regulations issued by the Charity Commission and the laws relating to companies (primarily as embodied in the Companies Act (2006).
The two-tier structure was devised in order to protect our assets (i.e. our collections and building); we have periodically reviewed this to see whether it is the most effective structure for our circumstances.