Submission on modernising the Charities Act

The IoD welcomes the discussion document on modernising the Charities Act and we view this as an opportunity to help raise the standards of governance in charities.

We can see considerable benefit in introducing governance standards through a specific governance code for the charitable/not-for-profit sector that is fit for purpose and value adding.

A key challenge will be to balance raising standards without burdening organisations and deterring people from getting involved in leadership.

We also support the Department looking at options to strengthen who can be officers of charities, and we consider that there is merit in creating a new reporting tier with simpler reporting requirements for the smallest charities.