A former Charity Commission board member has described the Charity Governance Code as “too managerial in tone”.
In a LinkedIn post, Andrew Purkis said the code, which is the subject of a consultation to “refresh and reshape” it, was excellent but warned some sections were “too dry”.
Purkis, who was a commission board member from 2007 to 2010, said: “I think the code is too managerial in tone, as in governance as a bloodless discipline of expertise and good practice.
“For example, in principle number one, organisational purpose, the code says the purpose must be clearly understood and delivered effectively and sustainably.
“This is too dry because every charity is based on a shared enthusiasm and love for a cause and a quite crucial responsibility of the trustees is to be keepers of the flame.”
He said trustees must ensure a sense of shared enthusiasm for their cause “animates and binds” the whole charity, overriding any causes of tension and disagreement.
“This should not be presented as a dry managerial matter,” Purkis said.
Purkis said the mantra of a board’s core role being strategy, performance and assurance is also “too dry and boring”.
He said: “Any charity that loses that sense of shared enthusiasm and love is in peril.
“Beware the tribe of governance experts, accountants, auditors and lawyers who inadvertently tend to turn charity governance into dry managerial rules.”
Purkis said charities should not have to pay to use the code, which has been raised as a possibility in the consultation to support its further development.
He also said there was “too little about strategy and the process of strategic review” in the code.
He said how to create, revise and review strategy, what should be included in a strategic review and how to use it as a basis for monitoring importance should be fundamental.
“By comparison the relatively lengthy section on (say) diversity and equality, important as that subject is, is way out of proportion,” Purkis said.
“The strategy review is also an opportunity for the board to consider a key missing element in the code: what is the distinctive unique selling point of the charity, what can it do that genuinely adds value to society and isn’t just duplicating what others are doing or carrying on activities without reviewing regularly whether they are still relevant.”
Radojka Miljevic, chair of the Charity Governance Code Steering Group, said: “The aim of the steering group’s ongoing consultation on the Charity Governance Code is to encourage a constructive debate as to how the code can best achieve its goal of supporting good governance across the sector, and all views are welcome.
“To this end, we encourage charities to respond to the consultation by Sunday 11 August.”