Governance research

Young people have much to contribute to the governance of charities and not-for-profits, whether they work specifically with children and young people. Young people can bring a fresh perspective and new energy to decision-making, as well as making boards more diverse and representative of the general public and – for some charities – their service users. However young people are currently very under-represented in charity governance.

The third sector is poised for huge changes. There is an upcoming general election, government budgets are about to shrink, and the economy remains fragile. So research such as this, which tries to understand the dynamics and concerns of the third sector, is even more important.

Case studies from our evaluation of the Code of Good Governance. You can also download the full report - Review and Development of the Code of Good Governance.

The Code of Good Governance had been in existence for a number of years helping to improve the governance practices of organisations in the Voluntary and Community Sector. The Governance Hub asked us to review the impact of the Code, and to look at changes that might be needed to improve take up and usage. We held consultation events nationwide with large and small organisations, interviewed experts, wrote case studies, and summarised it all in this free report.

This is the first instalment of an annual survey carried out with Third Sector magazine. It aims to track the mood of the sector over time, on key issues such as external pressures, government initiatives, stakeholder relations and much more. Over 300 people who work in the sector replied to the survey, from a UK-wide range of different-sized organisations.

This study represents a snapshot of how well charities Regional-HQ relationships are functioning, according to charity employees. The aim of this study was to develop some hard data on this important issue - the first public study of its kind in the UK that we are aware of. And the results highlight some worrying schisms and considerable room for improvement for many charities.

A 20-page summary of the main report (below).

Remember doing exams at school where you just wanted to look other people's answers without the hard work of revising? Well "Mission Impossible" lets you do just that - for other charities' vision statements. It takes away all the hard work of trawling through their organisations' websites. Or as they say in the ads - we've done the hard work so you don't have to. "Mission Impossible" brings together over 80 vision statements from a range of organisations in the charity and not for profit sector. We don't claim it's exhaustive or representative, just useful. Even so the full version is over 100 pages long. We added analysis to the beginning of the collection to give you our thoughts on examples of good practice.

This toolkit goes with our 'Innovation Rules!' report, and contains practical guidelines and exercises through which an organisation can increase the quantity and quality of its innovative solutions.

Too few people have specifically addressed the voluntary sector's potential for innovation and the voluntary sector is often left feeling that the only time they can afford the luxury of innovation is when a funder specifically asks for it. It is our hope that this report will provide charities with a greater understanding about what innovation could do for them on a day-to-day basis. The report includes sections on issues such: innovation myths; innovation versus creativity; reducing the barriers to innovation and how innovation is linked to mission and vision.