{"id":45,"date":"2017-05-03T12:52:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T12:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/2020\/12\/23\/five-steps-good-great\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:09:22","slug":"five-steps-good-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/five-steps-good-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Five steps from good to great"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word governance means the action or manner of governing an organisation. It differs from leadership and management in that governance ‘manages the managers’. While managers run the organisation on a day-to-day basis, governance defines the boundaries within which they must operate.<\/p>

In the development sector, good governance means leading the nonprofit or social business towards the purpose for which it was set up, with integrity and transparency.<\/p>

Why governance is critical, especially in the social sector<\/h3>

For social organisations that are consumed with changing lives on the ground, their programmes and people are the things that matter the most. Implementing guidelines and best practices around governance might, therefore, seem like a nice-to-have task that can wait.<\/p>

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However, strong policies and internal controls are not just about compliance; they are critical to building trust with your donors, partners and even the people you serve.<\/p>

Organisations that are not well-governed are likely to experience wastage of already-scarce resources, revenue leakages and a high risk of fraud. This, in turn, erodes trust in the organisation, both internally and externally. And once trust is broken and reputation damaged, it is almost impossible to rebuild.<\/p>

Poor governance can lead to an erosion of trust in the organisation.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Governance is, therefore, critical. It establishes your credibility, which is particularly important to donors, helps in better decision making, improves transparency and ensures that your organisation carries out the work it was set up to do.<\/p>

There are five essentials for good governance. And they are fairly easy to implement, even if you are a smaller nonprofit with limited resources.<\/p>

1. A governing body<\/div>

Usually a board–either the board of trustees or a board of directors–its role is to direct and control. There are two important things to bear in mind when you set up your board:<\/p>

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