A new Charity Governance Code has just been published. Although it has not been produced by the Charity Commission, they had observer status on the steering group which created the document.

The group is a cross-sector collaboration with an independent chair and the idea is that it will review, develop, promote and maintain the code for the charity sector.

Two separate documents have been produced, one for larger charities and one for smaller charities.

In each paper, there are essentially seven headings as follows:

1. Organisational purpose
2. Leadership
3. Integrity
4. Decision-making, risk and control
5. Board effectiveness
6. Diversity and
7. Openness and accountability

The code is meant for both charities and not for profit organisations and sets out what is expected of them. Each document contains some useful links and a glossary of terms.

I highly recommend that each trustee body obtains a copy of the code that is relevant to their organisation and has it as an agenda item on the next trustee board meeting to ensure their charity embodies good practice.

The link to download the document can be found at

https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/pdf