Definitions of Governance:

'Governance is not necessarily about doing; it is about ensuring things are done. In a small organisation, it is almost inevitable that board members will be involved not only in making decisions and monitoring the work, but in doing some (or all) of that work. But as an organisation grows, the board becomes less involved in its day-to-day activities, delegating to staff responsibilities for most tasks.'

(Sandy Adirondack, The Good Governance Action Plan)

'The systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of an organisation.'

(The Governance of Voluntary Organisations, Cornforth 2005)

The amount of information available on Governance is vast. To help you through this minefield, SAVO have developed a free on-line course for Trustees (and suitable for anyone else interested in understanding more about governance and how an organisation is run). You can either work through the whole programme (at your own pace) or choose to complete certain sections.

Remember, governance is not just the role of the trustees. They need to work with the chief executive, staff (if there are any), volunteers, members and other stakeholders to ensure the organisation is properly run, meets the needs for which it was set up and is operating efficiently and effectively.

The key principles of good governance:

• Board leadership
• The Board in control
• The high performing board
• Board review and renewal
• Board delegation
• Board and trustee integrity
• The open Board

Source: Good Governance: A Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector http://www.governancehub.org.uk

The Code of Good Governance

The Governance Hub have developed a Code of Good Governance, which sets out best practice for governing a voluntary or community organisation. It is not mandatory but organisations that comply with the Code are invited to state this in their Annual Report and other relevant published material, and pledge their support for the Code by signing up to the Hub’s online charter. Click here for more details: Code of Good Governance

The following are a list of resources that might help you further:

(Remember, SAVO members can save 10% on books from the Directory of Social Change Bookclub, contact 01473 273273 for more information)

National Occupational Standards for Trustee and Management Committee Members ISBN 07199 16712 (UK Workforce Hub 2006)

The Board Answer Book (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2005)

Recruiting and Supporting Black and Minority Ethnic Trustees (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2001)

Involving Young People (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2001)

Enhancing Trusteeship Through Mentoring (Tesse Akpeki and Arthur Brown, NCVO 2001)

The Essential Trustee: what you need to know (Charity Commission, 2005)

Living Policy: A complete guide to creating and implementing policy in voluntary organisations (Tesse Akpeki, Becky Forrester and Marta Maretich, NCVO 2004)

Best Behaviour: A Model Code of Conduct For Voluntary Sector Trustee Boards (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2004)

A Chair's First 100 days (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2005)

A polished performance (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2004)

Better Communication = Better Governance?: Practical Strategies for voluntary sector boards (Tesse Akpeki and Tesse Woodcraft, NCVO 2005)

Best Behaviour: Using trustee codes of conduct to improve governance practice (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2004)

Faith and Hope don’t run charities (trustees do) (WCVA Publication 2002)

The Good Governance Action Plan Workbook (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2005)

Setting Chief Executive Officer Remuneration: A perspective for boards (Tesse Akpeki, NCVO 2001)

Charitable Status: A Practical Handbook (Andrew Phillips, Directory of Social Change, 2003)

The Good Trustee Guide (Peter Dyer, NCVO publication 2003)

The Good Governance Action Plan for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO 2002, Sandy Adirondack)

The Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (Sandy Adirondack and Taylor James Sinclair Directory of Social Change, 2001)

The Good Membership guide for the Voluntary Sector (Stephen Illiffe, NCVO, 2004)

Duties of Charity Trustees (Bates, Wells & Braithwaite (obtain free book: telephone 020 7551 7777). It can be downloaded from www.bateswells.co.uk

Good Governance: A Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector (First Edition: June 2005)

Tools for Tomorrow: A practical guide to strategic planning for voluntary organisations (NCVO 2004)

Governance in the information age: A trustees' guide to information and communications technology (Peter Dyer, NCVO 2003)

The UK Voluntary Sector Almanac (NCVO Publication 2006)

Chief Executive Succession Planning: The Board's Role in Securing Your Organisation's Future (BoardSource 2002)

The Good Employment Guide for the Voluntary Sector (Wendy Blake Ranken, NCVO 2005)

Are you looking at me? A practical guide to recruiting a diverse workforce (Wendy Blake Ranken, NCVO 2004)

Making Diversity Happen! A guide for voluntary and community organisations (NCVO, 2003)

Recruiting a new Chief Executive: a guide for chairs and trustees (Dorothy Dalton, NCVO, 2005)

The Board's Responsibility for Appraising the Chief Executive: a guide for chairs and trustees (Dorothy Dalton, NCVO 2005)

The Non-profit Chief Executive's Ten Basic Responsibilities (Richard Moyers, BoardSource 2006)

The Board Development Planner (A Calendar of Non-profit Board initiatives, BoardSource 2001)

The Policy Sampler, A resource for Nonprofit Boards (BoardSource, 2000)

Partners in Leadership:Towards a New Style of Governance and Management (ACEVO)

Leadership, Leadership, Leadership (Margaret Bolton & Meg Abdy, NCVO & ACEVO)

The Board-Savvy CEO: How To Build a Strong, Positive Relationship with Your Board (BoardSource 2001)

Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Non-Profit Boards (BoardSource 2005)

The Non-profit Board's Role in Maximising Volunteer Resources (Susan Ellis; BoardSource 1999)

Volunteering impact assessment toolkit; a practical guide for measuring the impact of volunteering (Institute for Volunteering Research, 2004)

Leading with Values (Institute for Global Ethics, 2001)

Pocket Director: The essentials of corporate governance from A to Z (Bob Tricker, The Economist Books)

Rethinking Governance: The results of the ACEVO governance inquiry (ACEVO, 2003)