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John Donnellan ACA• Chartered Accountant

• Certified Data Protection Practitioner

• Certificate in Best Practice Charities Institute Ireland

Ethics & Ethos

Ethics & Ethos

ETHICS ETHOS

ORIGIN Derived from Laws

and Regulations

Derived from Culture

(Environmental and

Organisational)

FUNCTION Determines right or

wrong. Conduct or

misconduct

Determines Culture

or Cultural

Behaviours

Charities need to operate to the highest

possible legal and ethical standards at all

times. Charities depend on public trust and

opinion.

There is a need to re-engage with ethics to

meet the challenges being faced by the charity

sector to avoid a replay of the errors of the past

Ethos - Ethics

“An ethical dilemma is where two rights

are in conflict or you have a choice of

options all of which seem wrong but you

have to chose one of them.”

Trust & Transparency

Trust & Transparency

Why Charities are trusted?

Can you organisation stand before it’s

stakeholders and say that they can trust

them?

"yerra they'll never shoot me in my own county"

Ethical Fundraising

Ethical Fundraising

In September 2017 the Charities Regulator issued

a set of best practice guidelines for charities

fundraising from the public, based on the 2008

Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising

Currently these guidelines are voluntary but the

regulator is very clear that it is best practice and

all charities who fundraise from the public should

be adopting the practices outlined in their

document.

Ethical Fundraising

• Respect

• Honesty and integrity

• Transparency and accountability

Ethical Fundraising

Responsibilities of Charity Trustees

• The ultimate responsibility for following these

guidelines rests with the charity trustees of

each charity.

• Trustees need to ensure that fundraising

strategy and operations are reviewed annually.

Ethical Fundraising

Responsibilities of Management

• Appropriate training is in place as required

• Fundraisers are subject to checks to ensure

their suitability to fundraise

• Fundraisers can communicate the charitable

purpose of the organisation.

Ethical Fundraising

Responsibilities of Management

• If events are organised in the name of the

charity, it is vital that the organisers are aware

of the standards they are expected to meet.

CRA - Charities Governance Code• Expect all Charities to meet Core

Standards

• Additional governance standards for

more complex organisations

• “Minimum standard”

• Self assess 2020 - Report 2021

CRA - Charities Governance Code

6 Key Principles

Becoming Compliant with the Code

Becoming Compliant with the Code

• RTFC• Read The Full Code

• For each standard, decide what action(s) you

will need to take (comply or explain)

• Agreed the compliance record form at Board

meeting

• Set a plan, allocate tasks and review.

Compliance & Enforcement

Compliance and enforcement activities still

mainly reactive.

In 2018, the main areas of concern

related to –

• Governance issues (32%)

• Legitimacy of a charity (30%)

• Financial control and transparency (21%)

Concerns raised by year 2014-

2018

Board experience• Skills GAP

• Where are your board from: Internally

from sector? External? Is there a

balance? Governance Document

specify?

Good Governance Practices• Preparing board agendas

• Board papers

• Knowing and respecting the boundaries

between board and Management

Expectation Gap

Expectation Gap

We need to demonstrate our compliance

with standards.

We need more transparency.

We need stronger boards and better

governance.

We need to do it whilst providing world

class services on tighter budgets

Trust & Transparency

Why Charities are trusted?

Can your organisation stand before it’s

stakeholders and say that they can trust

them?

Trust & Transparency The 3 Keys:

• 1 SORP Accounting

• 2 Governance Compliance

• 3 Ethical Fundraising Codes

of Practice

Trust & Transparency

Trust & Transparency

• To have confidence they need

information in words as well as

numbers. Annual report, trustees

reports, tell your story

• Professional Integrity and Scepticism of

Auditors are key

Advocating for your organisation

Advocating for your Org.

Donors and funders must understand that

spending money on consultancy & training

& risk management is hand in glove with

spending on your core services.

We will build a stronger sector, a more

trustworthy sector and secure the long-term

future for the sector.

Whelan Dowling & Associates• Statutory Audit

• GRC Training – Board & Staff

• Risk Management (Training, design & implementation)

• Compliance (Training, design & implementation)

• Strategic Planning – (Design of plans & facilitation of

Workshops)

Whelan Dowling & Associates

email: jdonnellan@wda.ie

phone: 01-6771411