Seven out of ten respondents say they are aware of the Governance Code and eight of ten say it’s easy to understand, applicable to their organisation and useful, states new research. 

Good Governance: a Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector is a review of the sector’s awareness and response to the Code and includes recommendations for its future development.

The research, commissioned by the Governance Hub, was completed by nfpSynergy earlier this year.    

The research shows: high levels of awareness of the Code (71% as compared with 61% in 2006); positive attitudes across the sector towards the Code and that there are no substantive changes needed (more than 80% say its easy to understand, applicable to their organisation and useful) ; and a wide range of organisations using the Code to support governance development in their organisation (42% of total survey respondents are using the Code) 

Throughout this project the Governance Hub sought to engage a range of stakeholders across the sector, to gather feedback on the Code and to assess the extent to which the sector is engaged in reviewing its governance and what tools and resources are being used to support this process. 

The research involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches, culminating in a report and a series of 12 case studies illustrating use of the Code across a range of organisations. 

Gill Edelman, former chair of the Governance Hub said: "The research has also been very helpful in identifying development priorities that will encourage a wider range of organisations to make use of the Code.”