Time for charities and social enterprises to grow up - White Paper - Urgent Need for Good Governance

Feb. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- The voluntary and community sector have 190,000 registered charities and another 100,000 estimated other regulated charitable organisations.

The sector employs some 600,000 people and has an annual turnover of approximately £40 billion. It is fair to say that the third sector is a significant and important segment of the UK economy. The environment in which voluntary and community organisations operate is however changing. The Government whilst wanting the charity sector to do more, has not dramatically increased funding. The funding that has been made available appears to be targeted towards volunteers themselves rather than charity organisations. More and more charities will find it difficult to continue to operate in this environment. Good governance, accountability and clear and concise reporting will be critical to survival.

Dr Bharat Vagadia, Director of Op2i commented “Now, more than ever, there is a need to plan – to get your strategy right, manage risk and work smarter. Charities need to set priorities and explore all options to reduce costs and maintain services. Whilst charities re-examine their governance processes, they should take the opportunity to implement good governance. Good governance goes beyond corporate governance, and should consider the complementary benefits of strategic governance. Strategic governance is about the board having oversight and insight into what decisions, risks and compliance the organisation has at any given time. Having the necessary information to inform their decision making and about the implementation of systems that provides the rest of the organisation a robust mechanism to make strategic decisions which are robust and aligned to the charities vision and purpose.”

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Op2i provides Strategic Business Advisory Services in Business Transformation, Sourcing and Strategic Governance with the provision of strategic governance tools - e.g.http:// www.GovernanceDirector.com