We are a charity, and a company limited by guarantee. We are primarily funded by the internet Industry and a grant from Nominet as part of our UK Safer Internet Centre work. Additionally, we receive project funding from a number of other funding bodies as well as the generosity of donors and supporters. You can read more about this in our Trustees’ Reports.
We are governed by a Board of 11 Trustees (currently nine due to two vacant positions). Our Board comprises an Independent Chair, six Independent Trustees, three Industry Trustees plus one Co-opted Trustee (who is also independent of industry). The Board elects two Vice-Chairs: one from the Industry Trustees and one from the Independent Trustees. The Board monitors, reviews and directs our remit, strategy, policies and budget to help us achieve our objectives.
Our Independent Trustees are chosen by an open selection procedure following national advertising.
Our Industry Trustees are elected to our Board from the Funding Council. No Trustee may serve more than six years. All Trustees are subject to vetting including an enhanced DBS check.
We became a registered charity in December 2004 to improve our structure and accountability. In 2007, we overhauled our governance and consultation processes to ensure our Board of Trustees can direct strategy in the best possible way and that other relevant stakeholder views are fairly represented. All of these processes are ongoing and consistent with maintaining our independent status.
Our governance arrangements are strengthened by a regular cycle of Board meetings and Executive meetings as well as a finance committee reporting to the main Board. We continue to review and improve our governance and during 2009 we revised our constitutional documents in accordance with the provisions in the Companies and Charities Acts 2006. We regularly review and improve our governance documentation to ensure it meets current legislation and accurately reflects our independent status.
Minutes of the Board meetings are available to IWF Members upon request.
