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Welsh voluntary sector is pleased with itself

Governance | Jonathan Last | 12 Oct 2012

Ninety per cent of Welsh trustees judged themselves ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ good at managing their charities in a Charity Commission survey.

The Commission regulates charities in England and Wales, and this is the first survey conducted amongst Welsh charities looking at how well trustees think they are running their organisation.

The survey was completed by trustees of over 500 charities with an income over £100,000 in Wales. There are more than 8,000 charities registered in the country in total, with a joint income of £1.9bn.

Still room for improvement

Welsh trustees were also asked where they thought there is room for improvement, and despite the overwhelming thumbs up, most stressed the need for continuing review and improvement.

The need to bring younger people and those from more diverse backgrounds onto trustee boards was seen as of particular importance.

Other findings include 48 per cent of charities revealing they receive more than half their income from publicly-funded or grant-making bodies; 94 per cent of trustees surveyed feel they behave with integrity; and 93 per cent believe they act in a way that is open and accountable.

The survey also collected more than 2,000 general comments from respondents about their experiences.

The report was followed-up by two governance workshops, which aimed to utilise the knowledge from across the voluntary sector and was attended by nearly 50 Welsh charities.

Impressive dedication

Harry Iles, head of the Charity Commission’s Wales Office, said: “Through our work, we come into daily contact with trustees and have been impressed by their dedication and the time they freely give.

“However, we have also experienced what has gone wrong when governance is poorly managed, with the potential to damage not just the charity’s reputation, but wider public trust and confidence in the sector.
 
“Whilst we recognise that this survey represents a relatively small snapshot of attitudes, we hope it will encourage more charities to think about their governance and look forward to discussing the findings in more detail at our public meeting.”

The Charity Commission will discuss the findings of its survey into good governance in Wales at its next public meeting, in Cardiff on 22 November, and trustees of Welsh charities are invited to attend.

Directory: Charity Commission