In addition to our Charities Governance Health Check, we are here to provide tailored support where you may need it most.
Our Charities Governance Toolkit allows you to select any number of areas where you believe more focused and in-depth guidance and operational know-how may be needed to set your organisation up for success. Each component of the Toolkit represents a stand-alone engagement so you pick and choose where you would like us to help, allowing you to take a cost-effective, step-by-step approach to the enhancement and refinement of your governance and control environment.
A non-exhaustive selection of examples of where the Toolkit can help are outlined below.
Succession Planning
We will work with you to design and implement a bespoke Board (and Committee) Succession Plan. Depending on your requirements, we can support you by undertaking the following activities:
- Conducting interviews with key stakeholders (e.g. board members, company secretary etc) to identify those skill and competency gaps and characteristics or attributes (to aid diversity of thought), which could be remediated through future board appointments.
- Designing and documenting relevant policies and procedures as well as the formal succession plan
- Facilitating a tailored questionnaire to allow board members to provide anonymous feedback
The tailored questionnaire would reference such matters as:
- The balance of skill-sets around the board-table
- The size and composition of the Board, including the diversity of its members
- Areas for further consideration and potential improvement
Board Performance Review
Under the Charities Governance Code, all charities are expected to conduct a regular review of the effectiveness of their board, office holders and individual charity trustees.
To date, we are the only Irish service provider accredited as a Board Performance Reviewer by the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland.
Our service offering allows clients to tailor a review to their bespoke needs while aligning to best practice.
Risk Management
Monitoring and managing risk effectively is fundamental to ensuring the continued operation and success of your charity.
Our team of experts can support you by either reviewing and uplifting your current Risk Management Framework ("RMF") or designing and implementing a bespoke RMF, including policies, procedures, risk appetite and tolerance statements, and a comprehensive risk register.
We can also support the incorporation of new and emerging risks within the RMF, including operational and technology resilience risk, third-party and outsourcing risk.
Our services include:
- Relevant policy and procedural documents
- Clear and concise key risk indicators and metrics
- Risk Appetite Statements
- Risk Register
Corporate Governance Reviews
In addition to the Charities Governance Code, you may be required to apply additional Codes of Governance to your operations depending on the nature of your organisation e.g. if you are a state body, or if you are a service provider to an entity who must apply a specific Code of Governance, such as compliance forms part of the contract. Alternatively, you may wish to review your governance arrangement to ensure you are applying best practices wherever possible.
We can support you by undertaking an independent review of your compliance with the relevant Codes of Governance with the aim of providing assurance to your Board and stakeholders.
We will also share practical guidance and insights on how to operationalise the recommended changes where we identify areas of improvement.
Protected Disclosures
Most employers are now required to comply with the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 ("Act") which has been designed to protect workers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors from retaliation if they disclose (or submit a whistleblowing report) about a perceived or actual wrongdoing in the workplace.
Regardless of how mature your whistle-blowing and/or protected disclosure procedures may be, we are here to support you with:
- Drafting the policy and procedural documents
- Supporting and/or conducting the investigation into the disclosure
- Providing practical guidance on how to remediate the issue
- Providing training to management and relevant teams on the handling of protected disclosures
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing
Charities in Ireland are subject to different Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing ("AML/CFT") obligations depending on the legal structure of their entity.
Our in-house AML/CFT experts are here to support your charity by:
- Advising you on your legal obligations as it relates to AML/CFT and supporting the implementation of any identified requirements
- Supporting you in the process to determine your charity's risk profile and the key areas of risk you are exposed to
- Working with you to design and implementing effective controls designed to mitigate risk and improve governance and financial management
- Reviewing and/or drafting AML/CFT policy and procedural documents
- Supporting the establishment of your Beneficial Ownership Register, where relevant
- Supporting the design and implementation of a customer risk assessment process to allow you to differentiate between high, medium and low individual profiles and the level of due diligence required
- Advising on the type and extent of due diligence measures required in relation to the third-party risk you are exposed to
- Conducting regular AML/CFT training sessions for employees to raise awareness and to enhance their ability to detect suspicious activities
- Performing independent testing of your existing AML/CFT programme to provide assurance on their effectiveness
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
