What do trustees do in a charity?
In Jersey, charity trustees are formally called charity governors. They hold management and control of the charity, must make sure it achieves its purposes and provides public benefit, use assets only for those purposes, and comply with the Charities (Jersey) Law 2014 and the charity's constitution.
If you have been asked to be a trustee of a Jersey charity, the first thing worth knowing is that the law here uses a broader label: charity governor. The Jersey Charity Commissioner's guidance says charity governors are the people who have management and control of a charity. Depending on the type of entity, they might be called trustees, directors, managers, or a board or committee. The name matters less than the substance of the role.
[1]Who counts as a charity governor
You do not have to be formally elected or appointed to be treated as a charity governor. The guidance is blunt on this point: anyone who exercises some degree of control over a charity might be held legally liable as one. Nor do you need to run things day to day. A charity may have volunteers or employees for operational decisions; the governors are the people responsible for the executive decisions about how the charity is run and what it does. If you are on the committee that decides how the money is spent, that is you.
[1]The core duties
The duties come from the Charities (Jersey) Law 2014, from any other relevant law (a charitable company's governors, for instance, also carry directors' duties under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991), and possibly from the charity's own constitution. They apply regardless of how big or small the charity is. Every governor shares them equally: no individual, not even the Chair or Treasurer, carries more responsibility than the others. The Commissioner calls this collective responsibility, and it means the whole board must work together to see the duties met.
[1]- Seek to ensure in good faith that the charity acts consistently with its constitution, its registered charitable purposes and its registered public benefit statement.
- Use the charity's assets only for the charitable purposes set out in its constitution, in line with its registered purposes and public benefit statements.
- Ensure the charity complies with any direction, requirement, notice or duty imposed on it by or under the Charities (Jersey) Law 2014.
- Ensure the charity follows the rules of its constitution, and act on any duties it sets out, provided those are not less than the duties in the Law.
- Report changes to information given to the Commissioner, and submit financial records and information as required.
- Report reportable matters to the charity and to the Commissioner, and report any misconduct of a fellow charity governor to the Commissioner.
A worked example
Suppose, hypothetically, a small Jersey charity runs a community hall and its committee of five is considering letting a member's catering business use the kitchen at a discount. The governors, collectively, must ask whether that use fits the charity's registered purposes and public benefit statement, whether the constitution allows it, and whether the asset is being used only for the charitable purposes. It does not matter that only the Chair negotiated the deal; every governor shares the responsibility for the decision. If it goes wrong, each of the five is in the same position. The same logic applies to paperwork: the charity must submit its annual return to the Commissioner within two months of the anniversary of its registration date, with an automatic reminder sent by the Commissioner's Office, and governors are the ones who must see it done.
[1]A checklist before you say yes
- Read the charity's constitution carefully. The guidance says every governor should know and understand what it says and means, and it is good practice to keep a copy of the most recent version.
- Check whether the constitution sets rules on the number of governors, the quorum needed for a valid meeting, or whether governors must be drawn from the membership.
- Ask what other laws apply. If the charity is a company, directors' duties under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 come as well.
- Check whether the charity is also registered with another jurisdiction's regulator, such as the Charity Commission for England and Wales, since their rules on payments to governors may also apply.
- Confirm you understand the reporting duties, including annual returns and reportable matters.
One limitation to be clear about: the Commissioner's list of duties is described as not exhaustive, and it cannot cover every situation a specific charity may face. The annex of the Commissioner's Guidance Note 3a carries further detail on reportable matters. If your charity's circumstances are unusual, the constitution and the Commissioner's own guidance are the places to verify what applies, and qualified advice is sensible for anything consequential.
[1]Practical next step: before accepting a trustee role, ask for the charity's current constitution and its most recent annual return, and read the Role of Governors and Payments to Governors pages on the Jersey Charity Commissioner's site. Ten minutes with the constitution will tell you more about your actual obligations than any general summary can.
[1]Sources and dates
- https://charitycommissioner.je/managing-your-charity/ · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://trustees.je/ · accessed 2026-10-18