40 C O N T E X T 1 2 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1 In the role of treasurer, Mike helped move us from being a body almost totally reliant on goodwill of paying members, through to the early years of being an institute with staff, and then overseeing our progress even to the point of developing a trading arm. In that period we moved from an era when he recorded all the institute’s income and outgoings in his remarkable cashbooks – now heritage items in their own right – to the more integrated systems we now have in place. By the time I arrived at the IHBC Mike had already set the foundations for these changes, as he had started moving us from the informal listing of diverse and local bank accounts demanded of a small and loose-knit association of volunteers, to fiscal management and controls that could deal responsibly with professional issues such as VAT, staff, projects and services. Bringing in our accountants, consolidating our accounts, and developing our reserves, he helped ensure that we could have a solid base for forward progress and growth. Last December, at the time of his decision not to go forward again as treasurer, he made quite clear just how radically his role had changed. These wider changes reflect the changing pattern of the environment in which we work as well as our own expansion.Where previously such radical changes in personnel, membership profile or services might have wrought the most horrific wounds on the voluntary body – and many in the IHBC will have direct experience of this – we have managed to maintain and even enhance support, benefits and advocacy for members and the wider sector in the face of an economic meltdown. The IHBC remains as a very distinctive professional body, despite the substantially higher profile we have now compared to even half a decade ago. Our focus on assessing conservation standards on the basis of skills and outcomes rather than ideologies or disciplines, and the de-constructed business model based around a virtual office, diversified income streams and franchise-style branch support, could not have been envisaged at our foundation. Indeed, were we still simply the ‘local government support service’ of ‘ACO days’, the sort some still imagine us to be, in these torrid times we would not have either the credibility or the capacity to deliver on our agenda. Although we have changed so much, our constitution still circumscribes our operations and underpins our governance. So it is especially sensible that, in this second phase of our governance review, we focus on getting our constitutional provisions in order for our future progress. At this point we are not trying to resolve all the challenges we face as an organisation, or the challenges our members confront. Many matters are best dealt with on the ground through the actions noted at the start of this column, as we coordinate the work of our bricoleurs – staff, volunteers and partners – in line with our corporate plan. Instead the constitutional review is the preamble to how we want to plan for the future, though no doubt it will also serve as a forum for exploring the issues we face today. We have to make sure that for the future, just as much as for the past, we plan and shape the infrastructure of the apparently random bricolage that secures real conservation.We must have the right tools, and so must start with consideration of our new constitution. This is why we are encouraging members to explore the high-level issues raised in the consultation, as detailed on our NewsBlog and web home page. Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Participants at the Branch Connection Day in Birmingham in November discussed the changing world of media and communications and how IHBC and its volunteers can be part of this, above. Liz Coyle-Camp of E=MC2 Public Relations led the discussion on IHBC’s media strategy, below. (Photos: Fiona Newton)
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