Transparency and accountability are vital for any nonprofit to build and maintain public trust – Carmichael
– Carmichael opens applications for the Good Governance Awards 2025 –
Transparency and accountability are vital for any nonprofit to build and maintain public trust. That’s according to Carmichael, who launched the opening of applications for their Good Governance Awards 2025 today (28.05.25).
Now in its tenth year, the Good Governance Awards recognise and encourage adherence to responsible governance and transparent reporting by nonprofits in Ireland. Each year, more than 100 nonprofit organisations enter their annual report and financial statements into the awards to be assessed under the criteria of transparency, governance, strategy, and financial information. In 2024, the 7 Good Governance Awards Winners ranged from Chronic Pain Ireland, a small charity that supports, educates and advocates for people with chronic pain to Trócaire, an international social justice organisation with an annual income of more than €93 million.
Commenting after the 2024 Awards, Christina Donnelly, Executive Director of Chronic Pain Ireland who were winners of Category 1 said “We were absolutely delighted to receive this award, which recognised our strong commitment to good governance as the foundation for accountability, trust, and effective operations, especially as a small charity with limited resources. This recognition affirms the transparency and responsible leadership that guides everything we do at Chronic Pain Ireland. We were deeply grateful to the judges, Carmichael, and the organisers, and especially proud of our dedicated Board, staff, and volunteers whose commitment made this achievement possible.”
Speaking today, Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, CEO of Carmichael and Founder of the Good Governance Awards, said, “The Good Governance Awards raise the quality of corporate governance in our sector by encouraging higher standards of good practice in annual reports. Expert feedback is provided to all entrants on how to improve the quality of their annual reports. This helps to ensure our sector is meeting best practice, constantly improving and communicating appropriately to its stakeholders.
“This year we are especially encouraging applications from the diverse range of organisations working in the nonprofit sector. We welcome applications from all areas – from arts and sports to homeless services and youth organisations. Due to the growing profile of the Good Governance Awards, we expect to see our highest number of applications ever this year.”
How to Enter
Any nonprofit organisation in Ireland, whether a charity, Company Limited by Guarantee, sports club or social enterprise, can enter the Awards. There are seven categories for the awards based on the annual turnover of the organisation:
- Category 1: For organisations with an annual turnover of less than €100,000
- Category 2: For organisations with an annual turnover of between €100,000 and €250.000.
- Category 3: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €250,000 and under €750,000.
- Category 4: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €750,000 and under €2.5 million.
- Category 5: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €2.5 million and under €10 million
- Category 6: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €10 million and under €50 million
- Category 7: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €50 million.
Details on the entry criteria and categories; the judging panel; how to enter; and other resources such as annual report templates are available at: www.goodgovernanceawards.ie or enter here.
Entries closed 11th September 2025. Awards ceremony takes place Wednesday 19th November.
Contact: Martha Boyle, Good Governance Awards Coordinator
Email: martha@carmichaelireland.ie
Download press release here.
As part of the launch of the 10th Good Governance Awards, Carmichael is hosting a free webinar on “Achieving excellence in your annual report.”
Date: 11th June 2025, 11.00am-12.00pm
This 60 minute webinar will include:
- Preparing for excellence; the structure and process to deliver an excellent annual report
- An auditor’s perspective on what is required to deliver an excellent report and the key reporting requirements under Charities SORP
- How to move from a good annual report to an excellent annual report – what the assessors and judges in the Good Governance Awards are looking for?
Speakers:
Sheena Horgan Director Advisory Services, 2into3
Aisling Fitzgerald, Director PwC, Head of Not-for-Profit Assurance Practice
Andrew Madden, Head of Training, Consultancy & Communications, Carmichael
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mZI82VA6TXelQdyA7p3t_A
Statement from CEO Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí
I am delighted to be launching Carmichael’s 2024 Annual Report.
The publication of the organisation’s annual report is a very important event. It is the organisation’s accountability statement to its stakeholders, its funders, staff, volunteers, service users, supports, regulators and the wider public.
The 2024 Annual Report sets out our purpose, strategic objectives, services, governance arrangements, our funding sources and what we did with those funds and resources in delivering on our purpose, our objectives and targets set in our strategic plan.
There are a lot of achievements by the Carmichael team in 2024 that I am very proud of. These include;
- Carmichael was home to 42 different nonprofit organisations.
- 3,904 people were supported through our training and support services
- 69 mentoring assignments commenced in 2024.
- We provided 185 informal supports to 338 people from 171 organisations and networks.
- We had 705 meeting room bookings in Carmichael Centre.
- We had 132 entries and more than 140 people attended our 2024 Good Governance Awards event.
- Our operating income was €1,960,686 an increase of €154,516 (9%) compared to 2023.
- Our operating expenditure was €2,054,666 an increase of €170,456 (9%) from 2023.
- We had an overall deficit of €93,979.
2024 however, was not all plain sailing and we experienced higher staff and operating costs. We also had some building issues which meant that some of our meeting rooms and offices were not available and resulted in reduced income. The net effect of these was that we incurred an overall deficit of €94,000 which will be funded from our reserves.
Overall, it was a very strong year for the delivery of our services and meeting our strategic targets, but our expenditure was greater than the income we earn and received from our statutory funders. Our challenge for 2025 is to continue to grow and expand our services and carefully manage our expenditure to reduce the size of our operating deficit and work to a breakeven position in 2026.
I want to thank the Board of Carmichael for their supportive guidance and governance oversight. A big thank you to the team in Carmichael, our staff and volunteers. Thank you to all those who support us with the Good Governance Awards and the mentoring programme, our funders and supporters and especially, the thousands of people from the sector that use our services and supports every year.
Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí
Taoiseach Micheál Martin today launched the next phase of the Shared Island Initiative at the 4th Shared Island Forum in Dublin Castle.
Our CEO Diarmaid attended alongside DTNI CEO Charlie Fisher, with whom we partnered on a Shared Island funded project over the last year.
Great to see continued focus on cross-border collaboration and community impact.
Find out more the Shared Island Initiative here.
Press release here.
UCD Students are working with Carmichael to understand how nonprofits are engaging with AI and what support they may need to integrate AI effectively. Your responses will help us develop resources and programs to assist nonprofits in leveraging AI responsibly and efficiently.
Have your say here and help us support the sector.
It will only take 2 minutes to answer the survey.
Thank you!
Carmichael and Davy Institutional Consulting are jointly hosting an information sharing webinar on the new Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) and the consultation process.
Speakers will be Kevin Timoney, Chief Economist at Davy, Andrea Shupinski, an expert in accountancy and taxation within the charity and not-for- profit sector, Angela Monaghan a Director in the not-for-profit Audit & Assurance team at Forvis Mazars and Mike O’Halloran, a Technical Manager with Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Kevin will provide an economic overview and share his outlook for the Irish economy against the current market backdrop. Andrea will focus on changes that will be implemented as part of the new Charities SORP for Irish registered charities. Angela will highlight key implications for charities, particularly, for charities applying the SORP standard for the first time. Mike will explore the implications for the audit profession.
- Hosted by: Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, CEO at Carmichael and Suzanne Keogh, Director of Charities Endowments and Foundations at Davy
- Speakers: Kevin Timoney, Chief Economist at Davy, Andrea Shupinski, Consultant, Angela Monahan, Director, Audit & Assurance at Forvis Mazars and Mike O’Halloran, Technical Manager, Chartered Accountants Ireland
We hope you can join us for what promises to be an insightful and informative event on April 15th at 11.00am
Please register via the Accept button if you would like to attend, and please note that registration information will be shared with the co-hosts.
Acceptance Link – https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZztNVXDlTVq6O5OpLiCSJw
If you would like more information or if you would like to send in a question for our speakers in advance of the webinar, please email davyinstitutionalconsulting@davy.ie.
Office Accommodation Available in Carmichael
A bright and spacious office has become available in Coleraine House in Dublin 7.
The building is part of the Carmichael community and a 2 minute walk to Carmichael Centre.
Contact derek@carmichaelireland.ie if you would be interested in arranging a viewing or have any questions.
Across our two buildings on North Brunswick St and Coleraine St in Dublin 7, Carmichael is home to 42 Resident Nonprofits which benefit from affordable office accommodation, shared facilities, kitchen, catering, meeting rooms and access to knowledge sharing with other Resident Nonprofits and Carmichael’s staff.
Charities SORP for UK & Ireland
The Charities SORP is a Statement of Recommended Practice that sets out how charities should prepare their annual accounts and report on their finances.
The Charities SORP-making body, supported by its advisory SORP Committee (Carmichael’s CEO is a member of the SORP Committee), are working with the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to finalise the drafting of the next Charities SORP. The SORP is being updated to reflect changes in UK and Ireland GAAP and other SORP updates.
The SORP-making body will submit the draft SORP to the FRC in January 2025 for the FRC’s approval ahead of the public consultation on the SORP. The public consultation will run for 12 weeks and is expected to be issued no later than March 2025. The current project plan expects an updated SORP to be issued in Autumn 2025. The effective date of the SORP will align with FRS 102 and will be effective 1 January 2026.
It is imperative that charities are proactive in identifying and understanding how the changes introduced by FRS 102 will impact them.
Carmichael will run training workshops on SORP requirements for nonprofits on February 13th and July 10th.
For details and registration for February 13th visit here and for July 10th visit here.
In collaboration with The Wheel, Carmichael is delighted to announce the launch of a new National Training Fund Programme for 2025. Funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, this initiative offers a variety of tailored programmes designed to support small to medium-sized nonprofit organisations.
NTF Annual Report Support Programme 2025
Carmichael will work with three organisations on a 1-1 basis offering customised consultancy during the course of 2025 with a view to helping them develop the best Annual Reports that they can.
For more information and to register, click here.
NTF Impact Management Support 2025
Carmichael will work with four organisations on a 1-1 basis offering customised support during the course of 2025 with a view to helping them identify, capture, measure and report on their impact.
For more information and to register, click here.
NTF Strategic Planning Support Support 2025
Carmichael will work with four organisations on a 1-1 basis offering a customised support package during the course of 2025 with a view to helping them to develop a Strategic Plan.
For more information and to register, click here.
The 2025 Programme also includes:
- Leadership Programme: Effective Leadership & Management of Teams x 2
- Diversity & Inclusion Programme: Embracing Diversity, Encouraging Inclusion
- Enhance Coaching Skills Programme
- Dealing with Difficult Situations
- Succession Planning
- Bullying Complaints – Guidelines for Investigation
- Upcoming Carmichael Webinars.
The 2025 Programme highlights key National Training Fund priorities, focusing on enhancing leadership and management skills to strengthen organisational impact. This includes fostering strong governance, developing well-formed strategies, and promoting agile, effective management and planning. Eligible participants include small to medium-sized non-profit organisations, as well as community, voluntary, charitable, and social enterprise groups.
If you have any questions, please email us at training@carmichaelireland.ie.
The funding for the provision of these services comes from the National Training Fund administered by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science.
Affordable Office Accommodation for Nonprofits at Carmichael
Looking for office space for your nonprofit organisation? Carmichael House currently has three desks available in our bright and spacious co-working office space.
- Annual Fee: €1,874 per desk
- Quarterly Payment: €469
- Desk-sharing options are also available for added flexibility.
Interested? Contact derek@carmichaelireland.ie to arrange a viewing or for more information.
Why Choose Carmichael?
Located across two buildings on North Brunswick St and Coleraine St in Dublin 7, Carmichael is home to 42 Resident Nonprofits. Our residents benefit from:
- Affordable, high-quality office accommodation
- Access to shared facilities
- A collaborative environment with opportunities for knowledge-sharing with other nonprofits and our team.
Join a supportive community and be part of Carmichael. Get in touch today!