In 2005 National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) together with three other national umbrella organisations produced the first edition of ‘Good Governance: A code for the Voluntary and Community Sector'. The code was produced to encourage charities to adopt good practice in governance primarily to assist charitable organisations to keep pace with changes and make them effective where it really counts; helping those people for whom it was set up to benefit. The first edition of the code appears in the list of resources on the VAC Quality and Governance web page www.vacoventry.org.uk/governance
 
NCVO, with its partners, has recently reviewed the code and published an updated version of the principles (a detailed breakdown of the application of the principles will be published soon). This has been described as the 're fashioned principles'. The principles haven't changed too much however the description of each is straight forward and clearer. A criticism of the 2005 Code was that it wasn't very accessible in terms of language and relevance to varying sized organisations. The updated code is worth a look at because it does provide, in a straight forward framework, a set of standards that ensure effective boards.

VAC are in the process of finalising a one day course on Good Governance which will support trustees to understand the code better and hopefully appreciate its usefulness within their organisations. This course is expected to take place in early October 2010.