Good Governance

Governance refers to the oversight of the voluntary sector organisation, usually by a Board of Trustees or Committee. Good governance is essential to having an effective organisation.

Governance is described as the systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of an organisation.  In this section you will find a selection of resources for good governance from umbrella and infrastructure organisations, the Charity Commission, Homeless Link and the Charity Trustee Network amongst others. 

GENERAL GOVERNANCE

 

Homeless Link resources

Following on from the development of the Leading Places of Change for managers and leaders of homeless services and Engage to Change for people working in homeless services, the Chartered Institute of Housing, Homeless Link and Broadway  have been supported by Communities and Local Government (CLG) to develop a Board development pack.

The sections are as follows:

  • The sector and our organisation: This looks at the development of the sector and how recent key political, economic changes have affected the organisation.
  • Our Service: This looks at what the service does and our ambitions for it (and the people who use it), including how users of the service are involved in its development.
  • Your role as a Board: This section can be delivered as one module focusing on both the functional and strategic roles of the Board or can be split into two sessions covering functional operations and influencing and partnerships. It includes a board self appraisal framework.
  • Risks – how do assess and manage them?: This session looks at the different types of risk to your organisation and how the organisation records, reports and manages risk?
  • Joint Working to Support Vulnerable Adults: This session aims to highlight the pitfalls of a lack of service integration for vulnerable people and gives participants an understanding of the “every child matters” and every adult matters” agendas.
  • The journey of the service, the change plan: This involves discussion about how the organisation knows when it is successful and looks at delivery against the Places of change approach and the Rough Sleeping Strategy.

The sessions are designed to be delivered either as short stand alone sessions of around an hour, as part of a Board away day or in combination for longer sessions and there are a number of delivery options that can be considered.