Tag: Clerking
Posts exploring Clerking, explaining what it is and how it is different to being a Chair of a charity. Posts giving advice and good practice. Tips & practical ideas to take away.
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Quaker A-Z: K is for Keep it Simple & Sustainable
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Quakers have testimonies of both simplicity & sustainability. Like all testimonies, both should apply to all aspects of life – including administration!Charities are usually run by volunteers, with occasional paid support for specific jobs. How do you ensure that your systems continue through the changes of role holders, volunteers,
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Quaker A-Z: J is for Jumping Around
For the preservation of love, concord and a good decorum in this meeting, ’tis earnestly desired that all business that comes before it be managed with gravity and moderation, in much love and Amity, without reflections or retorting, which is but reasonable as well as comely, since we have no other obligation upon each other
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Quaker A-Z: I is for Insider Knowledge
If you are addressing a lack of attendance at a gathering or meeting, for example, one reason for the void could be a participant’s confidence in the knowledge that they could bring. It could be that you yourself question the contribution you could make. In this blog, we explore how insider knowledge can impact the
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Quaker A-Z: H is for “Hope So!”
Wendrie Heywood – MBS Founder & Life Long Quaker Why do Quakers say “Hope so!” rather than “yes”? Or, in these days of Zoom, put thumbs up or nod at the camera? If you’ve attended a Quaker Meeting for Worship for Business you may well have heard these phrases: Clerks: “Is the minute acceptable, Friends?” Meeting: “Hope so!” This
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Quaker A-Z: G is for Gender Neutral Language
Quakers have a testimony to equality. For over sixty years Quakers in Britain have struggled with gender and sexual equality. Gender inclusive or gender neutral?
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Quaker A-Z: F is for Filing Structures
All clerks, or anyone needing to deal with records is likely to end up with documents that need to be stored. Documents need to be safe for archive as well, easy to refer to. There should be some system of recording what documents are where. There are many filing systems you can use (after all
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Quaker A-Z: E is for Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate!
Evaluation should follow action, then action should follow evaluation, and so on. Don’t let a yearning for perfection, or fear of mistakes, paralyse you. But don’t charge ahead without consideration either. So. Where to start?
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Quaker A-Z: D is for Draft Minutes
Quakers write their minutes contemporaneously, meaning each minute is agreed in the meeting. This usually happens at the end of the topic and must happen before the meeting ends. Once the meeting has closed and the clerk has signed the minutes, they aren’t altered or amended – beyond “dots and commas”, where the meaning isn’t
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Quaker A-Z: C is for Clerk vs Chair
I’m often asked what is the difference between a Quaker Clerk and the Chair of a Committee. My usual rather tongue-in-cheek (and not strictly true) answer is that “A Quaker clerk is a servant of the meeting, and the Chair is the boss of their group”. Quakers in Britain have a good deal of information
