Governance Code Final Draft Now Published

The Working Group of the Governance Code for Ireland's Community, Voluntary and Charity sector is very pleased to announce that the final version of the Governance Code has now been published on www.governancecode.ie.

How You Can Get Involved:

1. Visit www.governancecode.ie and download the Governance Code and the checklists that are relevant to your organisation.
    
2. Assess your organisation’s governance practice against the principles and standards set out in the checklist. That will result in a clear action plan for your organisation, the outcome of which will be both that your organisation is run according to best governance practice, and that all your stakeholders will know it.
    
3. Implement the action plan with a view to adopting the Governance Code for your organisation.
    
4. In doing all this, you will be joining the ‘early adopters’ group for the Governance Code and avail of the supports, networking and advice that will be made available by your peers in the sector who are on the same journey as you. Join by emailing info@governancecode.ie or directly on the website.
    
5. Circulate information about the existence of this Governance Code to all the organisations you are in contact with, encouraging them to take the same steps as you are taking. It will help individual organisations, and it will help all of us in the sector when the Governance Code is in widespread use.
   The Governance Code has been published following extensive feedback during the public consultation phase.

What Happens Next?

The Working Group* is now focusing on disseminating the Governance Code across the full sector and are planning an official launch in mid-year. By then they will be able to report back to all stakeholders how the initial months of rolling out this new standard has been experienced by the ‘early adopter’ groups.

From now until the official launch in mid-year, the Working Group is also able to provide the following support to help you get started:

• A series of peer-discussion and review meetings for all those committed to adopting the Code and at which organisations can exchange information about the successes and challenges associated with completing and implementing the checklist for their organisations.
• These meetings have been organised on 26 March, 25 April and 29 May from 5.00pm – 6.30pm respectively in a Dublin city-centre location.
• An online discussion group onto which questions, comments and successes can be posted and through which ongoing peer-support can be accessed and provided. (Details are forthcoming).
• The ‘resources’ section of www.governancecode.ie will be updated regularly as new resources, helpful hints and practical advice is identified.

Background to the Governance Code

This final version of the Governance Code has been published following extensive feedback during the public consultation phase (May to end July 2011). Over that period, a total of 112 written submissions were received and the Working Group engaged with 140 additional groups/interests via workshops, webinars and emails.

The feedback represented a hugely diverse  response, comprising input from individual charities, voluntary and community organisations, umbrella representative bodies, fundraisers, grant-makers, government departments, lawyers, trainers, educational institutions, students of post-graduate studies on the Third Sector, accountants, non-profit practitioners, retired public service officials, politicians and members of the public.

Visit www.governancecode.ie to learn more.