Surveying the ground. Trust strategy review needs your input!

The RCVS Trust is seeking veterinary surgeons' and nurses' views as part of a wide-ranging review of its aims and activities, and is offering the chance to win an E-reader!

"We're undertaking this review primarily to consider the Trust's purpose and future direction," says Cherry Bushell, RCVS Trust Director.

"It's healthy that organisations take stock periodically of what they do and of people's views - and for us that means finding out what the veterinary profession thinks about the Trust and its work."

The review will look at the Trust's activities over the past ten years and make recommendations for the future direction of the charity.

Views have already been gathered from the RCVS Council and staff, as well as from the vet schools, grant-holders and Library users. These will be considered in the New Year by the Trustees, together with the results of this survey.

One area on which the review will focus is the Trust grants programme which, since its inception in 2003, has invested over £2.5 million through annual grant-making rounds in veterinary research and education as a way of improving animal welfare in the UK and overseas.

The Trust's plans for grant awards in 2011 are not yet set in stone, but will take into account the feedback received from the profession.

"Although the purpose of the review is to look at the Trust's work and plan for the future, we cannot ignore the wider economic context," says Jill Nute, Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

"Hard times and a stagnant economy make it even more important that the Trust can respond flexibly to gaps elsewhere in funding provision. We must also scrutinise how our funding can have most impact. The Trustees see this as a crucial step forward in providing the best support for the profession that we can."

The Library services that the Trust offers to veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses will also be considered, including the collection of historical books and archives held by the Trust, which relate to the development of the veterinary profession.

If you have five minutes to help, then please do fill in the short questionnaire. It can be completed online, or downloaded and emailed to [email protected].

All entrants will be given the opportunity to win an E-reader!

The Trust is interested in your views whether you've received a Trust grant yourself, are a Library member or have only the vaguest idea what the Trust is all about, so please do take part.