2009 Annual Report

Although the National Trusts have been coming together for many years, 2009 was only our second full year of operation as the International National Trusts Organisation and we made progress on many fronts.

Whilst continuing our efforts to establish firm foundations for our network, we have been able to respond to the wishes of our members to assist with particular issues, to give weight to their events by sending an INTO representative and to collect information and guidance on a number of subjects.

In February 2009, INTO was registered as a charity in England and Wales, an important step towards accessing funding in the future and providing a solid governance framework. The charity Trustees exercised their duties with due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

We restructured the Secretariat and welcomed three new personnel, Colin Griffiths (Director of Policy), Alison Dodd (Policy Development Officer) and Gaile Jones (Fundraising Director), all of whom volunteer their time and energy to helping INTO achieve its mission, for which we are enormously grateful.

In 2009, we continued to provide public benefit through our well-received e-bulletin and have made improvements to the INTO website which have both ensured a good flow of information between our members and amongst the general public. Through the kind auspices of our colleagues at the US National Trust for Historic Preservation, we are also now able to accept on-line donations.

We have been outward-looking too and have responded to requests for assistance from National Trusts around the world, supported the organisation of a successful International Conference of National Trusts (ICNT) in Dublin, developed our membership services and programmes, expanded our membership base and increased public awareness.

You can read the full 2009 Annual Report here.

Amicus (plural amici), from amō (‘I love’). Pronunciation: /a’mikus/. Definition: Friend …

We also launched our Amicus programme in 2009, the honorary title given to individuals making special contributions to our work through regular donations.

E-bulletin

We changed the format of our e-bulletin in 2009, with the last issue sent in July 2009.