Health check aims to improve boards
A new online health check aims to improve the boards of charitable organisations.
Developed and launched by Tanarra Philanthropic Advisors, The Board Health Check aims to help boards improve their effectiveness, boost performance, and focus better on their core purposes.
Believed to be the first resource of its kind in Australia, the ‘check’ contains information specific to charity boards. Tanarra Philanthropic Advisors is a pro bono enterprise of the Tanarra alternative-asset investment group.
The ‘check’ may be used by Australian charities and not-for-profits, takes around 15 minutes to complete, and will help organisations uncover their key strengths, deficiencies, and potential issues.
The Governance Institute’s general manager of membership and engagement Leon Cox said the tool would allow charities to focus better on their core purposes.
“To have a complimentary tool available to help charities govern their own entities means more time and resources can be directed into their own purpose and by extension better outcomes for society,” Mr Cox said.
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Fifteen charities revoked
Following compliance investigations, the ACNC revoked in 2021 the registrations of 15 charities.
The organisations were found to have breached the ACNC Act or governance standards.
ACNC commissioner Gary Johns said most of Australia’s 60,000 registered charities were well-run and complied with their obligations, but a few failed at good governance and following rules.
“In those cases, our first step is to educate the charity to help it meet requirements, and this results in a positive outcome in most cases,” said Dr Johns.
“However, if there is a serious breach or the organisation does not cooperate with an investigation we will revoke its registration — the strongest action we can take. That means it no longer has access to commonwealth charity tax concessions, including income-tax exemption, and deductible-gift-recipient status,” he said.
Last year, the ACNC received 2034 concerns about charities and finalised 87 investigations. The most common concerns were about perceived mismanagement of funds and individuals obtaining private benefits from charities.
