A Director's Guide to Governance in the Boardroom

CHAPTER ELEVEN Governance in the Charity/Voluntary Sector

Patricia Armstrong and Margaret Wright

DOI: 10.4324/9781003142850-11

Introduction

The charity sector in the UK is both complex and dynamic, driven by passion, social ethos, and social value. Over the last few decades, the sector has expanded and grown considerably. The central tenet of the sector is the human desire to help others without personal gain. Charity is not a modern phenomenon. The term charity has Greek origins – charis originally meaning “grace” and philanthropy meaning “love of people”. Charity was closely aligned to the development of religious organisations with early teachings ascribing to the view that the poor had rights and the wealthy had duties. Religious orders ...