Read this collaborative resource written by the Council for Board Diversity, Ernst & Young, National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, and the Singapore Institute of Directors if you would like to know more about board appointment guide for charities in Singapore.
Take a look at our other resources curated for social impact organizations here.
Can’t access the above? Read an excerpt here.
This Guide aims to provide Boards of charities in Singapore with useful considerations for nominating and appointing Board Members. A useful starting point is to consider the strategic relevance of reflecting diversity in terms of skillset, experience, gender, age, ethnicity, and other forms of demography on their Boards. Boards that continually assess their structure and composition will be better placed to maintain their strategic focus, meet the needs of the organization, serve beneficiaries, and optimize organisational performance.
Enhancing Board diversity is crucial for accomplishing the charity’s goals. Out of the varied elements of diversity, gender diversity is one of the easiest to demonstrate and therefore an aspect of diversity that Boards should actively pursue. Besides being a visible and important aspect of diversity, there is also a substantial pool of talented women suitable for charity Boards and many avenues to find them.
This Guide recommends and highlights:
- ‘Foundational standards’ – this comprises mandatory requirements consistent with the Charities Act and its subsidiary legislations such as the Charities (Registration of Charities) Regulations, Charities (Accounts and Annual Report) Regulations, Charities (Large Charities) Regulations. It also refers to the Code of Governance for Charities and IPCs’ guidelines under the Basic and Intermediate tiers;
- ‘Exemplary standards’ – these are current best practices that charities could aspire towards as they see to enhance their standards of accountability, transparency and good governance. This also includes some of the guidelines under the Enhanced and Advanced tiers of the Code of Governance for Charities and IPCs.
