A report coordiated by ACEVO has been profiled this week, advising on good practice for realising the potential of governance.

Third sector on-line promoted this with the headline: “Charities should introduce formal appraisal procedures for trustees, Acevo report urges”.

However, this headine is more that a tad misleading, as the report does not urge charities to use formal appraisal procedures for Trustees.

Conversely the report makes is quite clear that Board Appraisal should be undertaken in a way that aligns with the culture and resources of an individual charity.

Two forms of Trustee appraisal are put forward:

1. Individual trustee appraisals. These range from formal reviews informed by written self-assessment, or less formal procedures involving scheduled conversations. These are frequently led by the chair.

2. Whole-board appraisals. This option was considered by many respondents to be a less stressful prospect for trustees. A whole-board appraisal would often be facilitated by an independent external source such as a consultant. Alternatively, two organisations might consider a board-to-board, peer-led approach, in which two boards mutually review and appraise each other’s governance standards.

Whichever methodology is used, the report highlights that the effectiveness of board appraisals depends greatly on organisational culture and behaviour – an organisational culture that encourages trustees to take accountability seriously, and reflect on their responsibilities and performance on an ongoing basis.

However, for the smaller more informal charities (84% of charities are purely volunteer led and run – with no paid staff), the whole-board appraisal could be argued as a more appropriate way forward.