Governance & Accountability in Not-for-Profit Organisations

The literature on the relevance of corporate governance recommendations on not-for-profit organisations is not clear. In volunteer member-based not-for-profit organisations, elements of “good” governance recommendations such as independent directors, board diversity and separation of the CEO and Chair of the Board may be detrimental as it may impact on the organisation’s ability to carry out its mission. Whether this is the case can only be understood by exploring how organisations in such a sector operationalise their governance structures. This understanding will explain whether the elements of “good” governance should be universally applied to all organisations, or require further analysis. This research uses a grounded theory approach to explore what and why board members and CEOs of not-for-profit sporting organisations perceive as important to governance and related governance structures in their organisations. Unlike for-profit organisations, formal financial accountability was not the dominant form of accountability, yet remained an important but often misunderstood element in fulfilling legal obligations of being an incorporated body. Accountability in the context of the organisations’ mission should have been the main driver behind governance structures and explained recruitment and board operations, yet it was often at odds with what the literature described as “good” governance.