Governance, minus the jargon.
Plain-language guides to running a compliant, well-governed South African organisation — written for the volunteer boards actually doing the work.
“We’ll remember what we decided” — six months later, nobody does. Why minutes are your board’s best friend, and what good ones look like.
Minutes tell the story; resolutions are the legally binding punchline. Ordinary vs special, round-robins, and when you actually need one.
SA company law requires fewer meetings than most directors fear — but when you must meet, doing it properly really matters.
The once-a-year moment of honesty: here’s what happened, here’s the money, here’s what’s next — and why skipping it is an avoidable red flag.
Three acronyms, three regulators, three sets of paperwork. What each one actually buys you — and what it costs in ongoing compliance.
In a grassroots NPO, the board often is the staff. The working board isn’t a governance failure — as long as you know which hat you’re wearing.
Handled properly, a conflict of interest is a Tuesday. Handled badly, it’s the story that ends up in front of a funder, a journalist, or a court.
A small piece of paper carrying real legal weight — for your donor’s tax return and your organisation’s credibility. The 2026 rules, in plain English.
The fridge grant can’t pay the electricity bill — even temporarily, even with the best intentions. One of the most important financial lessons an NPO board can learn.
Compliance failure rarely looks dramatic — it looks like a missed email, six months later. Three regulators, three calendars, one owner.
“We’ll figure it out” is a hope, not a plan. How to protect the mission from depending on any single person’s energy — including your founder’s.
A handful of unglamorous documents that quietly protect the organisation, its board, and the people it serves — written once, revisited yearly.
It happens quietly, one missed annual return at a time — until your organisation legally ceases to exist. Entirely preventable, almost never intentional.