Helping people find their lives again - RNIB

Structure and objectives
Our legal structure
The Royal National Institute of Blind People
(RNIB) is a registered charity, number 226227
in England and Wales; and number SCO39316
in Scotland. Established in 1868, RNIB was
incorporated under Royal Charter in 1949,
with a Supplemental Charter in 1993 (revised
in 2002).
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Governance Committee
Human Resources Sub-Committee
Investments Sub-Committee
Policy and Advocacy Committee
Remuneration Committee
RNIB Cymru Committee
RNIB Northern Ireland Committee
RNIB Scotland Committee
Schools and Colleges Sub-Committee.
RNIB is governed by a Trustee Board of 24
that meets a minimum of six times a year and
takes all important strategic, policy and
financial decisions. The Board is supported by
an Assembly consisting of representatives of
stakeholder organisations, representatives
from RNIB’s country governance structures
and the wider RNIB membership. The purpose
of the Assembly is to provide an opportunity
to debate issues of importance to the
organisation and to contribute to thinking in
advance of decisions being made by the
Board, allow the views of other organizations
to be represented, elect members of
committees, and elect 40 per cent of Board
members.
The revisions to the supplemental charter and
bylaws required that a majority of the Trustee
Board, Assembly and wider membership, are
themselves blind or partially sighted.
How we were managed
During 2008/09 the Board was supported by
a number of committees, the key ones of
which were:
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Access and Innovation Committee
Audit Committee
Direct Services Committee
Executive Committee
Fundraising Sub-Committee
RNIB’s schools and colleges have their own
governing bodies.
The day-to-day management of RNIB is
delegated to the Strategic Management Team,
comprising the Chief Executive, and Group
Directors of Access and Innovation; Devolved
Services; Direct Services; Fundraising; Policy
and Advocacy; and Resources.
The Chief Executive, with the support of the
Group Directors, reports to the Board of
Trustees which approves major decisions and
has overall responsibility for RNIB’s activities.
Details of the Strategic Management Team can
be found in the section “Who’s who in RNIB”.
There are no restrictions on the way in which
the charity can operate.
RNIB Membership
The aim of RNIB’s membership scheme is to
bring an increasing number of blind and
partially sighted people into a wider RNIB
community, so that they can receive
information and support, and influence the
priorities of RNIB.
At March 2009 we had 10,400 members
receiving the membership magazine “Vision”
every two months and benefiting from
services such as opportunities to meet other
Structure and objectives 3