The Governance Code: Sport Ireland to Take Over CVC Code as Governance Code for Sport

The Working Group of the Governance Code for Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations (CVC Code) has announced that Sport Ireland will be taking over the CVC Code as a Governance Code for Sport.

The CVC Code has become the de-facto standard for excellent practice in corporate governance for non-profit organisations. It was developed, maintained and promoted by a unique coalition of leadership organisations in the nonprofit sector that worked together with a small number of like-minded organisations and individuals with relevant expertise from the private sector.

In 2018, the Charities Regulatory Authority took on responsibility for establishing the standards for good corporate governance for charities and in November 2018, it published a new Charities Governance Code with which all charities will be expected to start reporting their compliance by 2021.

The publication of this new Charities Governance Code provided the opportunity for the members of the Governance Code Working Group to review the CVC Code’s future in the changed context.

The  members of the Governance Code Working Group have made the following decisions:

1. The original Governance Code for Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations (CVC Code) will be retired and all charities will be steered towards the Charity Regulator’s Governance Code.
2. We are delighted to have agreed with Sport Ireland that it will take over the code as a Governance Code for Sport. Sport Ireland believes that the CVC Code will allow them to continue the journey to embed the highest standards of good governance across sport bodies.
3. For nonprofits that are neither charities nor sporting bodies, we believe that the Charities Governance Code represents good practice standards that could be applied to them, and we would advise them to consider adapting the standards and practices in the Charities Governance Code for their specific needs.
4. We have adapted and will leave the website www.governancecode.ie available, solely as a legacy website and as a source of resources for those that want it.

Chair of the Governance Code Working Group and Chief Executive of Volunteer Ireland, Nina Arwitz, said: "The members of the Working Group are proud to have led the movement around improved governance for community, voluntary and charitable organisations in Ireland, and played a role in building trust in our sector at a time when it was particularly needed. Ten years since we started this journey in 2009, we can say that our job is done and pass the mantle to the Charities Regulator and also to Sport Ireland."

Chairman of Sport Ireland, Kieran Mulvey, said: “This is an important step for Sport Ireland, which has a long history with the Code, having been the first state body to adopt the Code as best practice for our sector in 2013. In taking over the Code, Sport Ireland is reaffirming its commitment to supporting all of funded bodies in putting in place and maintaining robust corporate governance structures. I would like to thank the Governance Code Working Group for their hard work over the last ten years in developing and rolling out the Code, which set a high bar for standard not just for sporting bodies, but also for many other organisations.”

Read the Governance Code Working Goup's full statement here and you can Read Sport Ireland's statment here (PDF). 

Details of the Governance Code for Sport will be available at: www.sportireland.ie

The members of the Governance Code Working Group are:

• The Wheel
•  Boardmatch Ireland
• Business in the Community 
• Carmichael 
• Charities Institute Ireland 
• Clann Credo 
• The Corporate Governance Association of Ireland (CGAI)
• Disability Federation of Ireland
• Good Governance Solutions 
• Volunteer Ireland