For good governance, and to enable us to bid for contracts and funding, in January 2015 the Reading Sustainability Centre was established as a Community Interest Company (CIC) with a constitution and a board of directors. CICs “are limited companies which operate to provide a benefit to the community they serve. They are not strictly ‘not for profit’, and CICs can, and do, deliver returns to investors. However, the purpose of CIC is primarily one of community benefit rather than private profit”. [Source: Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies – Information Pack, May 2016]
The Reading Sustainability Centre CIC’s objects, as set out in its Certificate of Incorporation, are to carry on activities which benefit those individuals, families, organisations and businesses which reside or operate in Reading, affording equal access to those communities in respect of use of the Company’s facilities and resources, and in particular (without limitation) to:
- provide an eco-education centre that will aim to enlighten and encourage people to live more sustainable lifestyles (whether at home or at work), exploring their consumption of resources such as food, water and energy in the context of the resulting environmental impact;
- provide education and practical guidance that will aim to inform visitors to the above-mentioned eco-education centre of how they can better reduce their resource consumption, as well as provide an indicator of the resulting economic benefit such reduction could have, and;
- utilise live demonstrations, exhibitions, displays and ‘hands-on’ examples to educate and inform the centre’s visitors, whilst simultaneously providing more in-depth information through the resources available on the Company’s website.
The Reading Sustainability Centre CIC currently has three directors, John Brunnen, Donald Chambers and Tony Cowling. The board meets at least three times a year, including once for the Annual General Meeting (AGM). You can find out more about the Directors in the ‘Our Board’ section of this site.
Tony Cowling links the Board and steering group through attendance at both.