Good Governance Tip 3 - Manage your Conflicts of Interest
Good Governance Tip 3: “Manage your Conflicts of Interest”.
For the attention of Charity Chairs and other trustees.
After a series of desktop reviews of governance in charities over the last few weeks, another recurring issue I found was the lack of understanding of conflicts of interest by trustees and committee members.
This lack of understanding meant that many charities did not have an adequate (or often any) Conflicts of Interest Policy or even a basic Register of Interests.
Conflicts of Interest can arise very easily and can cause real difficulties in charities when you do not manage them properly.
Charity Commission
If you want evidence of the difficulties conflicts of interest can cause, just check the Charity Commission website for real life case studies of their far reaching investigations and their enforcement powers in this area.
And bear in mind how could your board members or executive know what may or may not be a Conflict of Interest for one of your members when nobody actually knows what their interests are?
Good Governance Tip 1: Complete your annual governance review
Good Governance Tip 2: Sort out your charity’s policies
Conflicts of Interest – suggested actions
If you don’t have a formal approach on how to manage your Conflicts of Interest, follow these quick suggestions:
- Draft at least a basic Register of Interests and get every board member and key staff member to complete it
- Share the Register with all board members and relevant staff and record its approval in the meeting minutes
- Develop a Conflicts of Interest Policy, incorporating the Register of Interests that can be approved by the board
- Ensure that any potential Conflicts of Interest are declared and recorded at the start of every meeting in relation to any agenda item
- Review your Conflicts of Interest Policy (and Register of Interests) at least annually
Follow the above Good Governance Tip 3 suggestions to ensure you manage your Conflicts of Interest more effectively.
Read our Blog on Top Tips for Board meetings.
If you would like guidance on how to review your governance arrangements, contact me here: tony@admorbusiness.com
Meantime you can watch this short explainer video on how to review your charity’s governance arrangements.
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