The third sector aspires to be well-respected, valued and publicly trusted, playing a fundamental role in addressing many of society’s unmet needs. Good governance is key part to this, helping to ensure that boards preserve stakeholder confidence and assurance.
UK charities operate within a strict regulatory framework designed to ensure transparency, accountability, and the responsible use of resources in line with their charitable purposes.
Recent regulatory changes, evolving societal expectations and increased scrutiny mean that charity leaders face new challenges in maintaining public trust while adapting to a rapidly changing environment.
GGI’s services for the UK third sector include:
- Governance reviews and accountability: Charities must adhere to stringent governance standards to ensure they operate in accordance with their charitable objectives, comply with legal requirements (such as the Charities Act 2011), and demonstrate accountability to donors and beneficiaries. GGI conducts governance reviews that assess trustee effectiveness, risk management, decision-making processes, and compliance with the Charity Governance Code. These reviews help charities identify governance gaps and implement best practices to improve transparency and accountability.
- Regulatory compliance and reporting: GGI helps charities to stay compliant with regulatory standards related to financial reporting, fundraising practices, safeguarding policies, and data protection laws (GDPR), helping to meet Charity Commission requirements around conflicts of interest, and the responsible use of charitable funds.
- Strategic change support: The UK charity sector is facing significant external pressures, including reduced public funding, rising operational costs, and growing demand for services, particularly in areas like poverty relief, mental health, and social care. GGI offers vital strategic support to help charities adapt to these pressures. We can also help charities diversify their income streams, ensuring financial sustainability in the face of economic uncertainty.
- Ethical leadership and public trust: One of the biggest challenges for charity leaders today is maintaining public trust. Charities are expected to operate to the highest ethical standards, avoiding conflicts of interest, ensuring proper use of donations, and safeguarding beneficiaries. GGI can support ethical leadership development, providing training for trustees and senior management, helping to build cultures of integrity and inclusivity, and advising on crisis management when ethical breaches occur.
GGI's support can help you tackle the big third-sector issues, including:
- funding and financial sustainability
- demonstrating impact and accountability
- balancing mission-driven work with operational pressures
- competition for donations and volunteer resources
- governance and transparency in leadership
- stakeholder engagement and public trust.
"GGI has not only advised us for this huge creative arts project that has literally involved hundreds of people in the area over the three years we took to build it up but also, in the form of their brilliant design staff, have seriously re-vamped our marketing campaign, with beautiful new-look publicity graphics and a buzzing web-site. "
Your feedback
"Richard Watts Charities appointed the Good Governance Institute to carry out their first ever external governance review. The team had a very professional approach and carried out detailed interviews of Trustees, Staff and Advisers along with reviewing samples of the administrative procedures and policies. We received a very comprehensive report and a clear presentation on the outcomes of the review and recommendations which we are following up ...
Your feedback
