Governance

It’s Not in the Tea Leaves – It’s in the Minutes

The ubiquitous Board Agenda and its progeny, the Minutes are often assigned to a spring back folder and buried on a shelf somewhere. A board meeting and its record, once distributed, approved and …

Information Flow is the New Cash Flow

Information flow is the new cash flow, quite literally, in the case of electronic funds transfer. More metaphorically, in the case of the myriad of electronic transactions collecting, storing and …

Reviewing Your Constitution – Food for Thought

Your constitution (or sometimes referred to as your governing rules or charter) is the document that governs how your Not-for-Profit (NFP) organisation operates. It is a legal document — a contract — …

New Directions in Directing

Nothing destroys the spirit of an organization faster than focusing on people’s weaknesses rather than on their strengths, building on disabilities rather than abilities. The focus must be on …

Not for Profit, Not for Fraud

We trust our staff. We are a values based organisation. We don’t have any fraud here. Let’s clear this up once and for all. It is likely that you do have some form of fraud or corruption happening in …

Practical Steps to Good Governance and Risk Management

For us tragic Essendon Football Club supporters, good governance is something that cannot be ignored. Governance and risk management go hand-in-hand, and provide a framework to ensure that an …

Enabling Better Decisions at the Board Table

High performing boards make decisions At the recent Better Boards Conference, Nonie Wales and Morri Young of Matrix on Board gave a presentation on ‘Board Business: Sharing the load’. They defined a …

Board Buddies

One of the biggest complaints made against non-profit organisations by members is that they are not consulted and not informed about what is happening. As the non-profit sector continues to develop, …

Governance and Legal Risk Management

The terms governance, clinical governance and legal risk are much bandied about but hold different meanings for different people. Some of the possible interpretations include:- Minimising Liability – …

Committee vs Board – What is Your Role?

The governance structures of not-for-profit organisations in Australia have never been more under the microscope than at present. At the Commonwealth level, major reform is underway concerning the …