What is good governance & how can charities achieve it?

• 10-08-2022

"Good governance in charities is fundamental to their success. It enables and supports a charity’s compliance with the law and relevant regulations. It also promotes a culture where everything works towards fulfilling the charity’s vision." - (Charity Governance Code)

NCVO describes governance as a term used to describe trustees’ role in:

• the long-term direction of the charity, including its objectives or purposes 
• implementing policies and activities to achieve objectives
• complying with legal requirements
• accountability to those with an interest or 'stake' in the charity

Good Governance is the foundation of your organisation and is the building block(s) behind your success as a charity! It is a vital component of your overall mission, strategy and business plan.

The Charities Governance Code explains the minimum standards you should meet to effectively manage and control your charity.

Good governance involves putting in place systems and processes to ensure that your charity achieves its charitable objectives with integrity and is managed "in an effective, efficient, accountable and transparent way". Please browse the Charities Governance Code FAQs here.

There are two versions of the Charity Governance Code, one for smaller (annual income under £1m) and one for larger charities. The Code aims to support charities and their trustees to develop and ensure these high-quality standards of governance. 

It's a practical framework to help set the principles and recommended practice for good governance and is deliberately aspirational, as some elements will be a stretch for some charities to achieve. It's also worth noting that no charity is perfect in every aspect, but the willingness to strive for a high standard is fantastic!

Through our experience supporting and working alongside many charities and education providers, we know first-hand how difficult it can be to manage governance and compliance activity. We confidently feel that this tool is going to help charities everywhere by making governance & compliance simple, efficient and affordable.

This is why we have created Energise Advance. Energise Advance is an online tool to help you manage your governance and compliance activity. Built around a model of transparency and progression, it allows everyone in your organisation to actively engage with improvement.

• Assess your organisation against standards and frameworks, all whilst capturing evidence in a single place and tracking areas which need improvement. 
• Manage your risks by assigning risks and actions to different groups within your organisation allowing them to take control.
• Have a single action plan which combines your compliance and risk activity in one place, measuring the impact of all the activities you undertake.
• We provide in-app training, free demo sessions and ongoing support to trustees and charity members whilst using the tool. 

Energise Advance is a game changer for charities, education providers and not-for-profit organisations of every scale. Book your demo session with us today here (we are onboarding our exciting new clients in January!)