The Charities Regulator has launched a new Charities Governance Code, which sets the minimum standards every board of a registered charity should adhere to in order to effectively manage and control their organisations.
The Code consists of six principles of governance. These are: advancing charitable purpose; behaving with integrity; leading people; exercising control; working effectively; being accountable and transparent.
The Code recognises the huge diversity which exists within Irish charities, ranging from organisations with millions of Euro in turnover and hundreds of staff, to charities which are volunteer-led with very low incomes. It aims to be proportionate and it is written with volunteer-only charities and charities with small numbers of paid staff in mind.
The Code sets out the 32 core standards that all charities should meet when putting the principles into action. It also contains 17 additional standards that reflect best practice for charities with high levels of income and/or complex organisational and funding structures and/or significant numbers of employees.
The Charities Regulator has committed to working with charities and charity trustees to help them implement the code. It will provide guidance documents to help charities and their trustees meet all the core standards. Charities will be expected to comply with the code in 2020. From 2021, charities will be expected to report on their compliance with the Code.
The Charities Regulator will monitor compliance with the new code, with charities expected to comply or explain why they are not complying. Charities will be expected to keep compliance record forms on file, which the Charities Regulator may request to see at any time. In the coming years, each charity’s entry on the Register of Charities will indicate whether or not a charity complies with the code.
The Code follows an extensive consultation process which was undertaken in 2017. The Charities Regulator established a Consultative Panel on the Governance of Charitable Organisations in March 2017 which undertook research and public consultation. In its report, published in May 2018, the panel proposed that a code should be issued by the Charities Regulator and that it should be principles-based and proportionate.
For further information about the Charities Governance Code click here.
To download a copy of the Charities Governance Code click here.