Quotas and Cultures to Support Board Diversity

There’s lots of discussion around about quotas for women on corporate boards, and lots of questions about whether quotas are effective. At theYWCA, we have been operating with a quota for 20 years. But ours is not a quota for including women: all the members of our board are women. Rather, our quota is directed towards including young women on all of our boards and committees. Twenty years ago, the YWCA made a global commitment that at least 25% of members of national boards would be women 30 years and younger.

Conducting Panel Interviews

A short guide to putting together and conducting a panel interview for selecting a new chief executive officer for a non-profit organisation. Selecting the Panel Members In contrast to the private sector, not-for-profit organisations have a predilection for interviewing candidates through panels, which may consist of several (or sometimes even more!) stakeholders. This is especially true where federated organisations are selecting Chief Executive Officers, although the preference is for the Board to appoint a sub-committee of say three Directors, usually including the Chair and sometimes bringing in an independent person.

To Pay or Not To Pay? Board Remuneration

Board remuneration is a tricky conundrum for many not-for-profit organisations. Michael Goldsworthy shares a framework that all directors considering this option, need to consider. To pay or not to pay? This is a defining question that increasing numbers of directors of community businesses – or not-for-profits – are thinking about and discussing as boards, as the intensity of risk and responsibility is balanced against the rewards (see the ‘Triple R’ model below).

Liabilities For Board Members Under The Fair Work Act

One of the legacies of the WorkChoices era is a well resourced and bureaucratically motivated workplace “cop on the beat” – the Fair Work Ombudsman. The combination of a regulator with a brief to maintain a tough public profile, the financial resources to back that up and supportive legislation has had the practical result of creating a new range of personal liabilities for directors and board members. Traditionally, an employer was liable for the conduct of its board or senior managers towards its employees, whether the employer was a private company, not for profit association or a government agency.