STATEMENT: Call on Charities to Adopt Governance Code

The Wheel, a national network of 930 Irish charities, today called on all Irish charities to adopt the Governance Code for Community and Voluntary Organisations. The call comes in the wake of the publication today of the results of a new survey by the Institute of Irish Directors’ (IOD), which found that 83% of charity CEOs and board members support the introduction of a mandatory code of governance for charity and not-for-profit organisations.

Ivan Cooper, Director of Advocacy at The Wheel said: “The Wheel agrees that there should be a mandatory code of governance for charities, and we will be working to encourage the Charity Regulator, when established, to adopt the Governance Code for Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations as the mandatory standard in the sector,” said Mr Cooper.

The Governance Code was developed between 2009 and 2012 by a working group of charities, assisted by a number of experts in the area of governance. The working group consulted widely with community and voluntary organisations, funders, regulators, statutory bodies and other stakeholders.

The code calls for clear guidelines on the roles, duties and responsibilities of those who run charities and it can be adopted by non-profit organisations of all sizes – from small volunteer-led groups to large national and international charities.

Mr Cooper added: “Compliance with the Governance Code requires the boards of charities to demonstrate the highest standards in leading and controlling their organisations, and to be transparent and publicly accountable for all their decisions. It also requires charities to disclose their accounts. Moreover, the code also encourages organisations to comply with the SORP accounting standard, which makes provision for public disclosure of CEO salaries. The challenge therefore is to get all charities to adopt the code, and to make it the mandatory standard,” said Mr Cooper.

He concluded: “Despite the fact that the process of adopting the Governance requires a significant commitment, and can take anything between 18 and 24 months to complete, 346 charities have already formally committed to adopting the code,” said Mr Cooper.

Ivan Cooper, Director of Advocacy of The Wheel is available for interview. Contact Gert Ackermann on Tel: 086 176 9287, (01) 454 8727 or email gert@wheel.ie.

The Wheel is a national organisation that represents and supports community, voluntary and charitable organisations in Ireland. Founded in 1999, we currently have over 930 members across Ireland, reﬂecting the enormous scope and scale of this vibrant and diverse sector. The Wheel exists to help change people’s lives for the better. We do this by helping non-profit organisations get things done, more efficiently and more effectively. The Wheel is registered charity (no. 13288) and a company limited by guarantee. See www.wheel.ie.