Organisational Advice

A Charitable Trust is established to support charitable purposes and benefit the community.

An Incorporated Society is designed for groups with a common non-profit purpose, such as social, cultural, recreational or other community-focused activities.

Summary of Key Differences:

– Purpose: Charitable Trusts focus solely on charitable activities, while Incorporated
Societies can have a broader range of non-profit purposes.
– Governance: Charitable Trusts are managed by trustees, while Incorporated Societies have elected committees or boards.
– Regulation: Different legislative frameworks govern Charitable Trusts under the Charitable Trusts Act and Charities Act, and Incorporated Societies under the Incorporated Societies Act.
– Membership: Charitable Trusts do not typically have members with voting rights and are governed by their Trustees, whereas Incorporated Societies have members who can vote and influence the society’s direction.

SociaLink has a number of policy and procedure templates on its website. The Organisational Advisor can also signpost you to various good websites that share free resources or even
source a policy example for you that better meets your specific requirements.

Strategic plans can be as basic or as complex as your organisation wishes.

The basic main headings to consider are:

– Objective: What are the primary goals you want to achieve?
– Scope: Which areas or aspects are you focusing on?
– Timeframe: Over what period are you planning to implement this strategy?
– Resources: What resources do you have available?
– Stakeholders: Who will be involved or affected by this plan?

If this is your first strategic plan, or your group needs to re-focus, the Organisational Advisor is willing to sit alongside you and help you to consider future impacts for your group.

In summary, Governance is concerned at a high-level with strategy, is policy-focused and maintains an oversight of the business and everything that affects the business.

Management is focused on operations, tactics, is delivery-focused and concerned with day-to-day activities.

There are many free resources available online to help design a process, together with related paperwork. The Organisational Advisor can provide some hands-on experience to guide the organisation to choose the right performance procedure to suit their size and needs.

One proven and free online tool is NZ Navigator. Organisations can assess their own performance by rating nine important areas of the operations – direction, governance, leadership, people, administration, finances, communication, evaluation, and relationships.  
All feedback is anonymous and the organisation receives the assessment report once the survey date has ended. The process is self-explanatory but the Organisational Advisor can offer support to set it up and is available to assist with action planning based on the assessment report’s findings.

If this assessment method is not what you are looking for, contact the Organisational Advisor to discuss other possibilities.