Did you know…we can offer support and advice around governance structures and support?
Here at Durham Community Action (DCA), we regularly get enquiries about governance support from a wide range of community organisations. Enquiries often focus on good practice, legal requirements to ensure compliance and offering a safe, effective and sustainable service. Effective governance is having an efficient system and process in place to be able to provide direction for the organisation in an effective way while being accountable for its aims and objectives. An organisation is governed by a core group of people, for example trustees, directors, or management committee, who are responsible for all elements of the organisation, including the following: Strategy - Setting a clear vision on what the organisation is trying to achieve and how it will do this.
- Demonstrating leadership and collaborative work in developing the organisation's strategy, mission, and vision to guide the organisation forward.
- Developing and delivering an action plan to ensure progress is made against their strategy.
Delivery - Decision making on the organisation’s finances and resources in order to achieve their aims and objectives.
- Considering potential risks to the organisation with effective planning to minimise the potential of external threats.
- Dealing with potential issues that arise and ensuring they are compliant and effective in dealing with such issues.
- Learning and developing as an organisation that consistently reviews and develops its governance.
Compliance - Ensuring the organisation is compliant with all aspects of the law, including its governing document, policies and procedures.
- Ensuring that all reporting and monitoring is submitted on time to the appropriate regulators or funders.
Accountability - Ensuring that all reporting is submitted to organisations to demonstrate the work the organisation is carrying out in line with its governance.
Whilst good governance is essentially the board's responsibility, it should be demonstrated throughout an organisation and everyone, including trustees/ committee members, staff, volunteers and stakeholders, should support good governance and follow relevant policies and procedures. For more information on good governance, please click the following links: https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/governance/responsibilities-for-boards/the-legal-duties-of-trustees/#/ Charity Governance Code At DCA, we understand how difficult it can be with such a wide and diverse topic such as governance. DCA offer a wide range of support in all areas of governance and offer a wide range of training, which includes delivering training to trustees and committee members so that they understand their roles and responsibilities. Free training workshops can be found on our website here If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us |