Who runs the organisation?
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New laws for Victorian incorporated associations came into effect on 26 November 2012. The resources in this section have been updated to reflect the new laws. The new Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic) can be accessed here, and you can read more about the changes at Consumer Affairs Victoria's website here.
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The 'governance' of an organisation generally refers to the processes by which an organisation is directed, controlled and held to account. Particular legal obligations apply to the governance of organisations.
Good governance practices are crucial to an organisation's ability to function, to achieve its objects and to comply with all of the legal, ethical and operational requirements of a community organisation.
Governance can be distinguished from 'management' in an organisation. Generally, the role and responsibility of an organisation's board or committee is to govern the organisation, and the role and responsibility of the management or executive team is to manage the organisation. Some community organisations that may not have paid employees, or few members, can struggle to distinguish between the governance roles and management roles in an organisation. This distinction is very important.
For information about:
- the governance positions within an incorporated association and information on the different committee roles, go to Positions in an incorporated association
- the governance positions within a company limited by guarantee and information on the different committee roles, go to Positions in a company limited guarantee
- the legal duties that apply to those that govern community organisations, go to Duties, and
- the general principles of good governance, policies and toolkits, go to the Resources section below.
Resources
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The Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has a wiki on board and committee issues. The wiki provides a range of resources on governance-related topics.
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These CSA resources for not-for-profit community organisations look at the relationship between a board (or committee of management) and management in not-for-profit organisations.
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The Boards section of the Our Community website includes information on governance issues in not-for-profit community organisations.
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This is a link to information about how to improve governance.
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This is a link to a toolkit which provides guidance and information about governance.
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This is a link to the 2010 update of the guide to good coporate governance provided by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). This publication is aimed at for-profit companies (and uses language like 'shareholders' not members) but the key principles of good governance are useful for not-for-profit organisations.
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This page contains a link to VCOSS's Board Governance Policy. This policy uses as a base the UK Good Governance Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector (2nd ed, 2010), and adapts it for Australia and VCOSS’s own circumstances. It provides a useful general model, although it needs to be adapted for each organisations individual circumstances.
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The Department of Planning and Community Development have produced this resource which is intended to be particularly useful for those who have not governed such facilities in the past. It covers facility vision and type; size and catchment; governing bodies; facility maintenance; and operations and integration.