It's exercising stewardship and direction of an organization to ensure that its purposes and goals are clearly defined and that systems and resources are in place to achieve those goals responsibly and successfully.
It includes:
- Ensuring Board structure and the Board/staff relationship are appropriate for the size and complexity of the society
- Recruiting and orienting directors with the skills and experience required by the Board
- Clearly articulating the society's mission and carefully planning the work needed to fulfill the mission
- Establishing and monitoring clear operational goals (planned outcomes)
- Developing and documenting clear policies to guide the Board's activities and provide a framework for staff decision-making
- Exercising prudent legal and financial oversight of the society
- Ensuring the society meets its legislated reporting requirements
- Evaluating the performance of the Board and the executive director (or administrator), legal compliance, and effectiveness in fulfilling the mission.
Best practices in this category help you:
- Achieve effective performance of your society's responsibilities as a housing provider
- Fulfill the mandate or mission of the society
- Sustain the viability of the society over the long term
- Maximize the potential of the resources (human, financial, physical) entrusted to the society
- Minimize risk of liability and loss for the organization and for directors
- Comply with all legal and reporting requirements.
You can...
- Test your society's best practices in Governance
- Check out the Best Practices and Resources for Governance.