The last quarter has been a busy time for BoardConnect. Our December enews will bring you up to date with industry developments, recent and upcoming events and opportunities, and what's new on the BoardConnect front. This is your chance to catch up with what's happening in our work developing effective boards.

Focus on board audits
Flipside Circus achieves Excellence in Governance
Financial Dashboards: what you need to know
New Models New Money
Review of non-profit governance arrangements
2012 Diary Dates
BoardConnect Limited turns 1!
Changes at BoardConnect
Stay Connected

Focus on board audits: regular board audits essential

With the Australia Council beginning to advise all its Key Organisations that they must complete a Board Audit (also known as a Board Review) at least once in each triennial funding term, we’re now busy with lots of conversations about Board Audits in 2012.

BoardConnect offers three levels of Board Audits which all meet the Australia Council’s requirements. We also provide each organisation with a letter confirming that they’ve completed the process, which can be supplied to the Australia Council when required.

It’s now widely acknowledged that governance best practice in both the corporate and non-profit sectors requires a Board Audit or Review at least once every two to three years. So you don’t have to be an Australia Council Key Organisation to decide a Board Audit is a good idea. If you want to ensure your board is working at peak capacity and really contributing to the success of your organisation, a Board Audit is a great place to start. 

Our level one Board Audit involves each board member completing a confidential online questionnaire. We collate and analyse the results, and a draft report is written and sent to your Chair. The final report is then written and presented to all Board members, either in person or via phone or Skype. The level two Audit adds individual phone interviews with each board member, to include richer qualitative data and more detailed insights into how your board is working. 

The level three Audit adds another layer to the previous two – we review your board papers and attend at least one board meeting as an observer, in addition to conducting the interviews and questionnaire from levels one and two. Level three provides the most detailed and in depth review of your board, with appropriately detailed recommendations for further strengthening the work of the board.

For further information about Board Audits or Reviews, please email Merryn Carter at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call her on 0414 766 173.

Flipside Circus achieves Excellence in Governance

When acclaimed youth company Flipside Circus first applied to join BoardConnect’s Excellence in Governance program, its Management Committee was composed largely of parents of young people who were enrolled in the company’s circus workshops.  

To develop the capacity of its board, Flipside wanted members who could bring a range of skills to the organisation and foster its future as a role model for other youth arts organisations.  It identified some specific areas of governance that needed development, including:

• Succession planning
• Board member role description and development of individual members’ potential
• A Board Charter
• A Philanthropy and Fundraising Plan

• Board Governance Charter adopted
• Three-year Strategic Plan developed and implemented
• A new board developed after strategic recruitment
• CEO evaluation properly planned and implemented
• Stronger relations between the board and CEO

Financial Dashboards: what you need to know

Mark Taylor of accounting firm BDO, and Brian Tucker of Brian Tucker Accounting, provided a lively discussion about financial reporting and dashboards at our Breakfast Briefing on 18 October.  Mark Taylor opened the discussion by setting out the minimum that board members need to know. To read the full report on this session, including some really helpful tips on financial dashboards, click here.  

New Models New Money

Cathy Hunt (Positive Solutions) and Belinda Drew (Foresters Community Finance) presented some ideas for how research into new forms of finance for social enterprises could have implications for arts and cultural enterprises in our Webinar on 21 November. They discussed asset building linked to new forms of financing for the arts sector, and how arts organisations and cultural enterprises could use community finance to improve the strength and resilience of their business structures. The report will be available on this website soon, so stay tuned.

Review of non-profit governance arrangements

All not-for-profit (NFP) organisations should now be aware of the changes in regulation of the sector due to be implemented from 1 July 2012.  On 8 December Treasury released a Consultation Paper,  “Review of Not-For-Profit Governance”, to help determine what the core organisational governance principles applying to registered NFPs should be. The consultation paper provides an opportunity for the NFP sector and the wider public to engage on this issue. There is also a Fact Sheet on Governance which outlines some key facts and frequently asked questions.  

The Treasury statement says: “Submissions on the consultation paper close on 6 January 2012. Treasury recognises that this is a very tight timeframe, however, the outcomes of the governance review will be included in the governance requirements for registered entities in the ACNC legislation, starting from 1 July 2012. In order to have the ACNC in place and up and running by 1 July 2012, legislation for the ACNC needs to be ready to be introduced into Parliament in the first quarter of 2012. If you have any questions, please contact Fiona McLaren on (02) 6263 3010 or Chris Leggett on (02) 6263 3357.”  (Treasury’s Philanthropy and Exemptions Unit)

2012 Diary Dates

February 23: Board Development Workshop, Brisbane
A full-day Board Development Workshop, presented by David Fishel, author of The Book of the Board and experienced workshop facilitator. It will be the first time in three years this workshop has been available in Brisbane: it’s the Board Development workshop David has previously presented through AbaF (the Australia Business Arts Foundation), and was last offered in Brisbane in May 2009. Don’t miss this opportunity to get all your new board members along; it’s the perfect complement to your other induction activities. It’s great also for new CEOs, and more experienced board members tell us they find it’s very useful as a refresher for all the essential information that engaged and committed board members need to keep top of mind. 

March 8: Risk Assessment and Management, Brisbane
What risks does your organisation face, and how can you best manage them? How do you assess entrepreneurial risk, when this can vary so much from organisation to organisation, and even from event to event? For Chairs and CEOs, this session will address one of the most important issues for boards. Stay tuned for further details.

March 22: New NFP Reporting Requirements, Brisbane
A Breakfast Briefing on the new reporting requirements that will come into effect for all non-profit organisations after July 1, when the new Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission comes into being. Essential information for the boards and CEOs of all non-profit organisations.

April 20: Gold Coast Residency
A one-day intensive set of workshops and board clinics for arts and other non-profit organisations in the Gold Coast region.

May 31 and June 1: BoardConnect Symposium, Brisbane
A two-day Symposium in Brisbane covering topics including creative leadership, building community resilience and developing young leaders in governance.  

We’ll be posting further details and registration forms for all these 2012 events on our website, but if you’d like to be included on our email invitation list for any of these events, please let us know now. Email Sara Bannon on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or subscribe to future enews updates.
 

BoardConnect Limited turns 1!