The newDemocracy Foundation’s efforts ‘to improve public trust in how we take public decisions’ include a research project which sought to discover whether a meaningful, widely-accepted standard for evidence-based policy making might be achievable. They did this by asking two think-tanks known to have very different views to ‘stress test’ 20 major policies and see… Continue reading Improving trust in public policy
Tag: charities
The 7th and 8th thinking hats
The ‘six thinking hats’ promoted by Dr Edward deBono will be familiar to most people, along with the concept that governing boards should make use of these to explore the full range of perspectives when making significant strategic or policy decisions. This post suggests that some other thinking hats may warrant consideration, but first let’s… Continue reading The 7th and 8th thinking hats
Governance for Grown-ups
As long as a story involves magical beings, hidden treasures and/or an heroic journey, children are rapt and fully engaged. As soon as a storyteller shifts the focus to moral instruction, their eyes glaze over and they seek other engagements. The rewards of work and responsibility are not generally appreciated, and the benefits of building… Continue reading Governance for Grown-ups
Evidence for Good
The UK-based Alliance for Useful Evidence has recently published two new resources that will be of interest to all not-for-profit organisations, but especially to those involved in public policy advocacy. The first relates to their goal that “Decision-makers in government and civil society routinely make appropriate use of high quality evidence to inform strategy, policy and practice“. … Continue reading Evidence for Good
Learning from others’ mistakes Part 8 – RSL Victoria
ABC News reported yesterday that RSL Victoria has joined its counterparts in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and RSL National (see earlier posts in this series), with the ACNC finding that it failed to meet a number of key governance standards. The standards concerned in this instance were: ensuring a charity has operated on a not-for-profit basis… Continue reading Learning from others’ mistakes Part 8 – RSL Victoria
Privacy, and IT governance
An article by WA lawyer Marcus Hodge last week highlighted the tension between the recently implemented mandatory data breach notification requirements, and the decision we will each need to make over the coming months regarding whether or not to opt out of Australia’s My Health Record system. The central storage of health record summaries for… Continue reading Privacy, and IT governance
Learning from others’ mistakes Part 7 – RSL charities’ enforceable ACNC undertakings
This post updates the status of ACNC compliance action against RSL NSW and RSL LIfecare, previously highlighted in Part 3 of this series on Learning from Others’ Mistakes. An ACNC Media Release issued on 15 May, advises as follows: “The enforceable undertaking between the ACNC and RSL NSW is in response to serious issues the ACNC… Continue reading Learning from others’ mistakes Part 7 – RSL charities’ enforceable ACNC undertakings
AICD’s report card on national reform says “we must do better”
“… if our business sector faced the same red tape and regulatory burden as our charities and NFPs continue to endure, there would be uproar.” So said AICD Managing Director & CEO Angus Armour when releasing the AICD report card marking progress towards achieving national reforms recommended in the AICD’s 2017 Blueprint for National Reform.… Continue reading AICD’s report card on national reform says “we must do better”
Maintaining the social licence to operate: 2018 KPMG – AICD Trust Survey
Hard on the heels of the Edelman Trust Barometer report for 2018 (see my post of 21 February – Less trust in NGOs), the report on the 2018 KPMG and AICD Trust Survey Maintaining the social license to operate confirms that Australia, “like many other nations around the world, is facing a crisis of trust in institutions.” With over 30% of… Continue reading Maintaining the social licence to operate: 2018 KPMG – AICD Trust Survey
Learning from others’ mistakes Part 6 – RSL Queensland
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) issued a Direction to RSL Queensland last week detailing actions considered necessary to address breaches of governance standard 5 and financial and operational record-keeping obligations. The Direction took into account the number of breaches, the serious, complex and persistent nature of governance issues identified, and the ACNC’s concerns… Continue reading Learning from others’ mistakes Part 6 – RSL Queensland