[Governance Matters] Resources for Governing Your Organization Well

By Put Barber, Editor of the Nonprofit FAQ.


We're beginning a series of posts related to self-regulation and self-governance around the world. Here are several resources, including a webinar series that kicks off tomorrow!

One World Trust, a research nonprofit based in London, UK, tracks codes of conduct and standards of self-regulation for civil society organizations in 80 countries. It publishes the results on a webpage at http://www.oneworldtrust.org/csoproject.

There are colorful maps which graphically represent the number of initiatives One World Trust has found in each of the countries. Clicking through will bring you, for example, to Auto Evaluación para las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil. Principios de buenas prácticas para organizaciones socials from Fundación HelpArgentina … or to any of 319 other models for good practices country by country.

Useful for building your own organization’s policies to ensure the delivery of high-quality services while following good management practices. And interesting to read about the various ways groups of non-governmental organizations have worked together to tackle those tough questions around the world.

Meanwhile, for nonprofits in the US, Independent Sector is offering a five-part webinar series focused on “good governance and ethical practice” for boards of directors. The series is free for members of the nonprofit umbrella group and any organization that joins IS before the end of next January can credit the webinar registration fee toward the dues for next year.

These webinars will be based on the workbook that IS developed to go with the “Principles and Practices” guide published by its panel on the nonprofit sector. The workbook and the guide can be downloaded without charge from the IS website nonprofitpanel.org. Find all the information about the webinar series here.

Again, for organizations in the US, the Internal Revenue Service offers a review of governance issues that come up frequently in its work with tax-exempt organizations here (pdf). This document is useful because it links somewhat abstract governance matters with the practical steps organizations need to take to complete the required filings with the IRS.