Trustee recruitment information for Calypso Browning Trust

Introduction

This is a trustee recruitment information pack for the Calypso Browning Trust. We are a small grant-maker that gives away approximately £30k a year to animal welfare and homelessness causes. We have two trustees, Joe Saxton and Vicky Browning, who have both been trustees for a decent length of time, and it's time to plan for succession.

This recruitment information is designed to attract a new influx of trustees and initiate the process of Vicky and Joe stepping down, in line with good practice. Vicky will probably step down this year, and Joe in a few years, once the new trustees have settled in.

About the Calypso Browning Trust

The Calypso Browning Trust was set up in the will of Calypso Browning, who died in the late 1970s. She gave donations to several charities in her will and asked that any remainder be given to animal welfare or homelessness/housing causes. Today, the Trust has about £1 million in assets and uses the dividend income from this, typically about £30-£35k a year, to give away money to animal welfare and homelessness in equal portions. A typical grant is £1500 to £3000 and unrestricted, so it can be spent on anything.

Our records with the Charity Commission are here: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/281986?_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_organisationNumber=281986.

We don’t have a formal grant application process, but we suggest people send us two sides of A4 about their cause. We make decisions around February each year on the whole grant pot, with one or two exceptions, which are on other occasions over the year.

In 2025, Vicky and Joe met and decided it was time for a revamp, and to recruit new trustees, to bring new energy, expertise and wisdom.

Some challenges for the Calypso Browning Trust

As we said, we are a tiny Trust with about £1 million in investments and an income of about £30,000 a year for grants. Some of the things we could do to make ourselves a better grant-maker include:

· We could move to ‘total return’ from our current ‘endowment’ status. At present, we can only give away what we get in dividend income. So even if we see the capital value of our assets double, the amount we can give away stays the same if the dividend stays the same. The solution to this is moving to ‘Total Return’ (https://www.ukgrantmaking.org/blog/about-total-return/ and https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/buddenbrooks-investing-living-off-the-dividends-without-hollowing-out-the-house.html? ), but the right process needs to be followed, and we haven’t done that yet.

· Registering for Gift Aid. We have had a couple of donations which are eligible for gift aid. We are not registered for Gift Aid, but if we were, we could reclaim the extra tax. Probably about £2000. We just need to do the legwork. Vicky has made a start on this process, but we don’t know how long it will take.

·We don’t have a website or any indication that we even exist other than on the Charity Commission website details (and we guess in some of the grant-making guides). Maybe we should have a website (and maybe we shouldn’t) and set out the organisations that we support and how we work.

·And we don’t have a brand or logo or email address – as you might have noticed from the lack of a heading on this document. Should we have one?

· Our articles of association were set out in the 1970s. It's probably time to see if they should be updated. Should we remove the requirement to give grants to certain named organisations?  The challenge is that it’s not worth paying a lawyer to do this, as it could take up a major chunk of our annual income.

· All the normal features of a well-run charity need looking at. Our annual report is about as simple as it gets. We’re not great at minutes, or as this document shows, open and transparent recruitment of trustees until now. We should get to the stage where we are recruiting trustees with clear term limits on a regular basis. The start of this process is to have more than two trustees who were recruited openly and transparently.

What are we looking for in terms of new trustees?

If we are honest, it is easy to give away our relatively small pot of money each year. We are over-subscribed many times – and that is without a website or any formal notification about what we do, or even that we exist.

We think it is a great opportunity for somebody who wants their first introduction to the world of being a trustee, or the world of grant-making, and or who would like to try and see what being a trustee is all about. This could be mixing trusteeship with work, young families, a change in career or lifestyle, or anything else! It might also be an opportunity to improve somebody’s CV or relevant experience for their day job: it is absolutely fine to see being a trustee as an opportunity to get something back, as well as giving time, expertise and wisdom.

We don’t think the trustees need to meet in real life. So trustees can come from anywhere in the UK, and be from anybody who is eligible to be a trustee in the eyes of the Charity Commission.

What does being a trustee mean?

There are lots of places which explain what being a trustee means. The Charity Commission for England and Wales’s explanation of being a trustee is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-whats-involved.

What is the process?

To apply to be a trustee, send us your CV and a brief email telling us why you are the right person to be a trustee. The deadline is Monday, March 9^th 2026. If you’d like a chat with one of the trustees first, then email joe@heyheyjoe.info.  Once we have the applications, we’ll arrange online interviews.

January 2026