Carol Rudge, Partner & Head of Not for Profit (NFP) at HW Fisher, provides an update on some of the top reports, news, and events for NFP organisations.
This month, the team attended the Higher Education Policy Institute’s annual conference and Unions 21’s launch of their latest report – ‘Using Data to Build Strong Unions’. In this digest, we cover the key takeaways from both events, the national audit office’s new effectiveness tool for audit and risk assurance committees, and the proposal from the financial conduct authority to boost disclosures of diversity on listed company boards and executive committees. To conclude, I share my thoughts on this years’ Charity Finance Group’s annual conference theme – purposeful and empowering; we are delighted to be sponsoring the conference and looking forward to seeing people face to face again! Read more to discover our full month in review.
It was great to be at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) annual conference, where they launched the Student Academic Experience Survey. The survey covers a new area this year – issues related to freedom of speech and the diversity of views expressed. The results highlight that most students don’t have concerns around this issue, but there are worrying differences by ethnicity regarding feelings about curriculum diversity and experiencing a sense of belonging. These concerns are critical for the EDI leads at HEIs to carefully consider and address. You can view the full survey here.
The team were delighted to be invited to the launch of the report by Unions21, looking at how using data can build stronger unions. The report features some interesting thoughts on how data can be used effectively, as well as sharing a number of good case studies from unions doing some great work using the data capabilities they have.
Three key takeaways from listening to the unions that do things well are:
You can read the full report here.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has issued a helpful effectiveness tool to provide a way for Audit and Risk Assurance Committees (ARAC) to assess their effectiveness against more than just the basic requirements. The tool provides aspects of good practice to give ARACs greater confidence and opportunity to meet the requirements of their role. Alongside this, there is also an ‘outcome analyser’ tool.
While this may be aimed at central government bodies, there is a huge amount of best practice guidance within it, and in these uncertain times, many ARACs could benefit from seeing where they stand against the measures.
You can read the full report here.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finalised rules requiring listed companies to report information and disclose against targets on the representation of women and ethnic minorities on their boards and executive management. While this is to enable investors to see the diversity of the senior leadership teams, driving diversity across all entities is of fundamental importance. Thus, other organisations should take a look and consider how they measure up.
It is a comply or explain framework with the ‘comply or explain’ statement targets being:
We’re sponsoring the CFG annual conference, and we can’t wait! Ahead of the Conference I shared my thoughts on the theme – ‘Purposeful and Empowering’. I believe that purposeful is where your goals align with core values and beliefs. Empowering is important for me as a leader to enable my team to thrive in an ever-changing world, to me, it means enabling my team to make a change themselves and feel proud of that change. You can read my full thoughts here.
We hope you found this summary useful. Follow Carol Rudge on Twitter and LinkedIn for more regular live updates, or contact Louise Hughes to sign up for our mailing list.
We’d love to hear from you. To book an appointment or to find out more about our services:
