Governance

Modified on Wed, 9 Oct at 1:14 PM

Overview

Governance is about the way an organisation is run and how decisions are made. It is about ensuring there is a group of people that work together on behalf of the organisation. They decide on the rules and structures the organisation operates by and the ways everyone involved in the organisation will be held accountable to those rules. Governance is also important in setting the culture of an organisation and the values and behaviours that are expected of anyone involved in the organisation.

Key issues for people involved in Governance include making sure the organisation’s practices are safe and comply with appropriate standards and laws and that the organisation’s resources are managed well and in the best interests of the organisation.

Common roles or terms relating to an organisation’s governance are:

Presidents,
Secretaries,
Treasurers,
Office Bearers,
Committee members or Board members,
Director,
Trustees,
Councilors,
Governors and,
Responsible Persons.

Record Keeping

Charities and Not-for-Profits have different obligations for record-keeping. The record-keeping obligations depend on your charity’s size, complexity, activities, how it spends or receives money, and whether it has extra obligations from state regulators.

Typically for the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission your charity will need to:

keep certain written financial and operational records

keep the records in any chosen format, as long as they are easy to find (including in electronic form)

develop its own system or process

keep the records for seven years

keep records in English, or in a form that can be easily translated to English

provide the records to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission only if asked.

If there are overseas activities, you will need to keep records relating to overseas activities.

Why keep records?

Keeping good records is essential, maintaining good records can help:

show that your charity is continuing to be run as a not-for-profit and working towards its charitable purposes (and so should remain eligible to be registered as a charity)
understand whether your charity is in good financial health
assess whether the right kinds of decisions are being made (operational and financial)
communicate about your charity’s activities and finances
prepare reports to meet your reporting obligations to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, other government regulators, donors/funders and members (if relevant), and
otherwise show that your charity meets its obligations under the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act, tax and other relevant laws.

What records to keep

Financial Records

These must:

correctly record and explain how your charity spends or receives its money or other assets (transactions)
correctly record and explain your charity’s financial position and performance, and
allow for true and fair financial statements to be prepared and audited or reviewed, if required.

Operational Records

These are any other documents about your charity's operations. You must keep operational records that show how your charity:

Is entitled to be registered as a charity and as its subtype
meets its obligations under Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act, and
meets its obligations under tax law.

How to keep records

Charities can keep the records in any format that suits, as long as they are:

in writing
readily accessible (easy to find), and
in English, or in a form that can be easily translated to English.

Charities can keep records on paper or on their computer (in electronic form).

It is always a good idea to have backups of records, be they electronic backups or physical copies, this may mean remote storage.

Destruction of records

Records need to be kept for seven years, after that and as long as there are no obligations to other regulatory bodies, records can be destroyed.

Ensure that you check policy and legal obligations to make sure records are being destroyed appropriately.

Risk Management

Risk management is a process used to identify the extent and nature of the risks involved in the activities carried out by an organisation. It helps you assess your organisation’s activities, develop policies and procedures to mitigate risk, and reduce the likelihood or seriousness of a hazardous incident occurring.

While the process will identify the types of insurance coverage your organisation may need, insurable events are best avoided wherever possible. In addition to an insurance claim, consequences to be avoided by effective risk management include harm to a person, damage to property, your organisation’s ongoing viability being compromised and failure to meet your legislative obligations such as those outlined in:

Designing Surveys

At times it can be important to get feedback and surveys can be an excellent way to get it, unfortunately surveys are often not completed and just ignored by the majority of outreach. A well-designed survey can help encourage participation from your target audience.

Determine your purpose and goals for collecting data

Knowing what you want to get out of your surveys will help you work out what questions to ask. Some questions may seem worthwhile asking, but they might not give you the information you want.

Keep your survey as brief as possible

People are more likely to complete the survey if the survey is short and to the point. Wordy questions can confuse people and cause them to skip the question.

Ask people from a wide range of groups to help you

Reaching out to a broader target audience can provide more useful data. Make sure that the survey is relevant to the groups you are reaching out to.

Explain why you are collecting this information

Knowing why they are being asked for the information may make potential participants more likely to complete the survey, especially if personal information is involved.

Make multiple selections possible, rather than limiting users to one choice

While depending on the survey, it might not be possible to cover every potential option. Having multiple selections available will give you more accurate data. If relevant, consider an "other" option for survey answers, with a blank box they can fill in with their option.

Make some responses optional

Some participants may not be comfortable with more "personal" questions, such as gender. Always include an option of "I'd prefer not to say" for more sensitive questions.

My Governance Journey

To support volunteers enjoy and succeed in a governance role, Volunteering Queensland has created My Governance Journey. Co-designed with the volunteer sector, My Governance Journey provides starting-level information for anyone taking on a governance role within not-for-profit organisations. It provides help and support regardless of your experience level – whether you’re still considering joining, are just getting started, if you’re experienced and are now stepping up to take on more leadership roles, or if you’re preparing to handover and invite new people to join your organisation’s governance.

Discover more at: Volunteering Queensland Governance

eLearning

The Centre for Volunteering has developed this Governance eLearning to support and develop the skills and knowledge of the board members of Australian not-for-profit volunteer-involving organisation's boards and committees, their CEOs and the other senior staff who work alongside them.

Governance for Boards and Committees eLearning Module

Additional Resources

The following Knowledge Base article provide additional information in support of the eLearning modules:

Organisation and Management Structures Article

Developing Policies and Procedures Article

Insurance Article