3 Assessment of Wikimedia UK governance
3.1 Characteristics of effective charity governance
Effective governance requires that key characteristics are delivered to a high standard.
We have reviewed Wikimedia UK against the characteristics in our standard for charities.
These characteristics of effective governance were derived from an extensive survey of the governance of UK charities conducted by Compass Partnership and the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School (Hudson and Ashworth, 2012). In this research the Chairs, Chief Executives and governance managers of over 200 major charities responded to over 100 questions about their governance. The research identified 50 characteristics of effective charity governance. It concluded that in summary the key drivers of an effective board are that it:
- Works well as a team
- Ensures meetings deliver excellent governance
- Has the required skills and experience
- Focuses on strategy
- Operates with openness and trust
- Has sufficient diversity
- Praises management
- Provides robust challenge
- Uses committees effectively
- Gives thorough induction.
The extent to which these characteristics of good governance can be applied will depend on individual organisational circumstances. We have adapted them for the culture and values of Wikimedia UK, set them out below under four headings and assessed the organisation’s governance against them using the following scale[1]:
- ↑ We are aware that the characteristics refer to UK governance, and that the characteristics of good charity governance may be different in other countries. We treat Wikimedia UK as a major charity as it has a very substantial global brand.
