Governance

NCVO has commented on the public accounts committee reports on the Charity Commission and Gift Aid.

Volunteers across the UK are being thanked for their efforts as part of a range of events to mark Volunteers’ Week 2015 which runs from 1 to 7 June.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has announced the results of recent elections to its Trustee Board.

The new appointments include:

• Ciarán Devane - Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support;
• Richard Leaman OBE, Chief Executive of Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

A new easy-read guide to trusteeship published today will help people with learning disabilities to become charity trustees. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has translated its best-selling Good Trustee Guide into easy-read format in order to provide information about a trustee's role and best practice guidance to people with learning disabilities.

By making the information contained in the Good Trustee Guide accessible, NCVO hopes to help charities improve the diversity of their governance structure and increase the effectiveness of their trustee board. Increasing board diversity is a key recommendation of the new draft Charity Governance Code.

NCVO today (Friday 11 October) announced the members of the Executive Pay Inquiry that will draw up guidelines for charity trustees when deciding on pay levels for senior executives.

The Inquiry will explore the arguments about what are appropriate levels of pay for charity senior executives, and how these levels should be arrived at. It will also explore the relationship between salary levels and public trust and confidence in the sector as a whole. The Inquiry will produce definitive guidelines for charity trustees, informed by a broad debate on the issues involved, to take into account when setting salaries.

Four charities from across the country received a national quality award on Monday. The Winifred Tumim Memorial Prize, awarded annually by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), recognises charities which have demonstrated an exceptionally high standard of governance. The awards were presented at NCVO’s annual Trustee Conference, which marked the launch of this year’s Trustees Week.

Embargoed 0001 Tuesday 29 April

Charities have been told they should publish full details of the pay of their senior executives, in order to maintain public trust. The recommendation comes in the report today of an inquiry into executive pay set up by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Download the report (PDF, 1.5MB)

Commenting on the PAC report on Kids Company, Karl Wilding, director of public policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said:

This report will make extremely frustrating reading for the thousands of charities who have to submit highly detailed plans in order to have a hope of funding, and who work very hard to produce honest and accurate assessments of the difference they make.

A consultation has opened today on a significant new version of the charity sector governance code.

The code, a tool to help charities strengthen and develop their governance, was originally created in 2005.

This major overhaul, launched at the start of Trustees Week 2016, sees new and more detailed guidance included in the code, with an enhanced focus on delivering organisational purpose and direction.

Those with an interest in charity governance are being asked to feed back their views on the code. The consultation runs until Friday 3 February 2017.

Commenting on the NAO’s follow-up report into the Charity Commission, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said:

‘This review reflects significant progress for which the Commission and its staff deserve much credit. The NAO identify a number of outstanding areas of concern. We are particularly keen to see the Commission return to a more conventional division between governance and executive. We look forward to seeing the results of the governance audit being carried out in the coming months.

Four charities from across the country have been shortlisted for a national quality award. The Winifred Tumim Memorial Prize, awarded annually by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), rewards charities which have demonstrated an exceptionally high standard of governance.

The four finalists are The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, based in Hampshire; Keech Hospice Care, Luton; Walsingham, a national disability charity; and Cumbria Action for Sustainability.

NCVO today launches the start of a month-long consultation period with staff on restructure proposals.

The key reason for the proposals is that following the merger between NCVO and Volunteering England at the start of 2013, when all Volunteering England staff transferred to NCVO, a number of duplicate roles now exist.

NCVO will review the Charity Commission’s governance structure and appointments process in order to find ways for the regulator to put questions about its political neutrality to rest for good, it was announced today.

Sustainable future and greater reach for training and accreditation

Trustees of the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (MBF) and the board of NCVO have today announced that MBF’s core services are to be transferred to NCVO.

Charities can expect to see little rise in income from donations or government, with earned income the best prospect for future growth, the charity sector’s representative body said today.

Authoritative new data on the charity sector’s finances published today by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) shows that income from government is at best flat-lining for most of the sector, while the charity representative body forecasts a challenging public fundraising environment as a consequence of broader economic conditions.

Commenting on the three new appointments to the Charity Commission board, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, which represents charities, said:

The new appointees have substantial professional backgrounds, with decades of experience at senior levels in complex organisations.

The way a key government mechanism to improve public services has been implemented has often been ‘seriously flawed’, a report today argues.

The renowned journalist and political commentator Peter Kellner is set to become the new chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the representative body for charities, community groups and volunteering, it was announced today.

Mr Kellner succeeds Martyn Lewis, who has served as chair of NCVO for the last six years.

His appointment follows a competitive process led by NCVO’s president, Tanni Grey-Thompson.

The appointment, for a three-year term, is subject to ratification at NCVO’s annual general meeting in November.

Following the publication of the revised Public Benefit Guidance by the Charity Commission, Elizabeth Chamberlain, Senior Policy Officer said:

'The Commission has made good work of the challenging job of distilling centuries of case law into guidance for trustees. We remain of the view that it would be helpful for parliament to establish some high-level principles of public benefit to which the Commission and trustees could have regard.

Sir Stuart Etherington's State of the Sector address, delivered at the NCVO Annual Conference on Monday 18 April 2016.

Good morning, everyone.

I’d like to join Martyn in thanking you for coming to join us here today.

My colleagues at NCVO have worked hard to make sure that you get real value from today, and we very much hope that you will leave feeling equipped to face the challenges ahead.