The UTS Centre for Corporate Governance has launched a survey, in collaboration with CompliSpace, which is designed to assess the current state of governance within the not-for-profit (NFP) sector in Australia and the challenges NFP organisations are likely to face in the future.

The survey will assist the key research centre at the University of Technology Sydney by assessing how different types of organisations within the NFP sector are tackling their internal governance requirements. The research will focus on the correlation between the standard of governance within particular NFP industry segments and the specific nature of their regulatory obligations. It will also explore the effect, if any, of the ACNC (Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission) Governance Standards.

“This research aims to compare the quality of governance in the not-for-profit sector, in light of the regulatory regimes particular types of NFPs are exposed to,” said the Centre for Corporate Governance’s Dr John Chelliah.

“The research will be useful to the not-for-profit sector in gaining an appreciation of governance issues facing the sector and will provide insight into building best practice into their existing governance frameworks,” he said.

Mr James Field the Managing Director of CompliSpace said: “Our industry experience is that there is a direct correlation between the quality of governance standards in NFPs and the particular types of regulatory regimes that NFPs are exposed to.”

“There is a general feeling the ACNC governance standards will have little or no impact in practical terms. It will be very interesting to see whether the findings of this research support our experience.”

Not-for-profit organisations are welcome to take part in the online survey, which can be found here.