The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), Australia’s charity regulator, has launched free online short courses to "support good governance in the nation’s charity sector".
The new Governing Charities program comprises short courses designed to assist sector leadership and accountability. There are eight courses available and the ACNC plans to launch more in future. Topics covered include:
- the duties of a board member,
- the board’s role in reputation management, fraud prevention, and safeguarding vulnerable people that charities work with,
- financial reporting within an organisation,
- reporting obligations to the ACNC,
- managing conflicts of interest,
- effective complaints management, dealing with internal disputes, and
- complying with the ACNC’s External Conduct Standards for charities that operate overseas.
The free online program is designed to be flexible, accessible and self-paced. Each course takes from one to two hours, and a certificate can be downloaded on completion.
While the program is not specifically tailored to schools, it does provide a general introduction into these topics for any Christian school board members who may not have had previous board experience.
The ACNC Governing Charities short courses are available here: www.acnc.gov.au/onlinelearning