The Court of Governors appointed to the Federation is made up of professional and experienced businessmen from diverse backgrounds - law, accountancy, economics, enterprise and industrial development and politics — each governor has a distinctive contribution to make. The sole function of the Courts of Governors of the Federation is to hold as trustees the cash and / or assets readily convertible to cash belonging to the Federation which is raised by FairFund Ireland.
The Federation has no direct relations with the public; does not hold or accept any capital in kind or favour from any member of any government, political party, ethnic grouping or entity in the public or private sector. It will only accept assets raised by FairFund Ireland without encumbrance or conditions. All assets are held by contractual agreement by institutional collateral Trustees and Institutional Administrators / Paying Agents.
Statutory bodies of the Federation of the FairFund Foundations
The statutory bodies of the Federation are:
- the Honorary Court of Governors (the Honorary Assembly),
- the Plenary Court (the Governing Assembly), and
- the Executive Court of Governors (the Executive Assembly), and
- the Members (the General Assembly)
Honorary Court of Governors: (The Honorary Assembly)
The Honorary Governors shall be appointed by invitation of the Executive Governors. The Governor, the Deputy Governor and the Secretary General of the Executive Court shall be ex officio Honorary Governors.
Honorary Governors shall primarily reflect (but not be limited to) a cross spectrum of the Commonwealth and Francophone countries and shall include leaders of faith groups, NGO Aid Agencies, and distinguished persons with experience of politics, finance, constitutional affairs. The Honorary Governors shall reflect so far as is possible a wide cross section of the regions of the world.
Plenary Court: (Governing Assembly)
The Plenary Court shall be made up of the Governor, the Deputy Governor and the Secretary General and three other members of the Honorary Court of Governors. There shall be no more than seven members of the Plenary Court.
The Plenary Court shall oversee the Federation’s activities, formulate policy, define general objectives and institutional strategy, and approve the budget and accounts. It shall delegate certain of its powers to the Honorary Court and the Executive Court if and when necessary.
The Plenary Court shall have the authority to set up sub-committees of the Plenary Court from time to time including professional experts to resolve problems of a disciplinary or financial nature. On major disputes, the Plenary Court may set up a tribunal of enquiry and appoint a member of the Honorary Court to act as its chairperson.
The Executive Court of Governors: (The Executive Assembly)
The present Governors of FairFund Foundation (UK) Ltd and of FairFund Foundation Limited (Ireland) and the Secretary General shall be the inaugural members of the Executive Court of Governors and shall appoint the Governor and the deputy Governor from within its ranks. Other members of the Executive Court of Governors shall be the Secretary General, the Director General / C.E.O. of FairFund Ireland and the Chairperson of each of the national Foundations located both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
The appointments of the Governor, Deputy Governor and Secretary General shall be subject to re-election every five years. After three terms of five years they must obtain a three-fourth majority of the full membership of the Executive Court and the endorsement of the Plenary Court in order to serve any additional term.
On the resignation or retirement of the inaugural Governor, inaugural deputy Governor or inaugural Secretary General the Plenary Court shall appoint their successors. The inaugural members shall have the right to act as nominators for the appointment of their successors.
The Executive Court of Governors shall be the supervising authority for all activities of the Federation and the global network of national Foundations, including the appointment of chairpersons of the international network of Foundations who shall have appropriate business, financial, political or other experience deemed relevant and helpful to achieve the Aims, Mission and Objectives.
The General Assembly
The General Assembly shall consist of the statutory bodies of the Federation, the Directors of each global national FairFund Foundation and the ordinary members who have subscribed for membership of a national FairFund Foundation to act as sponsors of infrastructure, enterprise and development projects.
The General Assembly shall meet annually alternatively in a northern and a southern hemisphere location.
The Governor shall present the report for the previous year and relay the future policy and development plans proposed by the Plenary Court as the supreme governing body of the Federation.