News & Events

Carmichael have designed a new free webinar on the Charities Governance Code for Charity Trustees who may need some guidance on implementing the Code. This 1 hour webinar is intended to give Trustees an insight into the 6 Principles of the Code and help your Charity on the road to compliance with the 32 Core Standards. To view, click on https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/5840210348333746177 and register through GoToWebinar.

“The webinar was concise and very helpful in presenting an overview of the Principles and standards in the Charities Governance Code. In addition, Andrew gave a whole series of very helpful suggestions and references in relation to the core standards and the actions required by charities to achieve compliance in relation to the Governance Code. Many thanks.” – Ferdia Kelly, Governance Working Group, Le Cheile Schools Trust

Carmichael have released new episodes for in its Governance Podcast Series.

The latest episodes of Carmichael podcast are available on Soundcloud.

Episode 10 = “GDPR, it hasn’t gone away you know” with Gerry Egan.

Episode 11 = Developments, opportunities and challenges for charities with Liz Hughes, CEO of Cii.

All our previous Carmichael podcasts are available from most podcast platforms – Soundcloud, Apple, Spotify.

Carmichael in association with the local Volunteer Centres, are delivering a series of 25 workshops across the country on ‘Developing an Effective Annual Report’. The aim of this practical hands-on workshop is to understand the preparation of the Annual Report from the perspective of the Board Members, Directors, Trustees.

Each workshop covers the basics of what is required in an annual report and then focuses on how to use the annual report as a way of showing the public, your members and funders how good your organisation is. The session will involve presentations and working in groups. These workshops are aimed at smaller charities (annual income of less than €250,000), particularly, at charities with income of less than €50,000.

The workshops are free thanks to the support of Community Foundation Ireland and Pobal.

Below is the current schedule of workshops with details of dates, times locations and booking arrangements.

Workshop schedule

Carmichael have released another episode for in its Governance Podcast Series.

In our first podcast of 2020, Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, Carmichael CEO talks with Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel about her work and the challenges which face the Charity and Voluntary Sector as Election 2020 draws nearer. Episode 8 is available on https://soundcloud.com/user-982606224/diarmaid-o-corrbui-with-deirdre-garvey-ceo-the-wheel.

All our previous Carmichael podcasts are available from most podcast platforms – Soundcloud, Apple, Spotify.

Carmichael has been chosen as one of the providers of training and mentoring supports to Social Enterprises. We have now started on a programme of supports for Social Enterprises involved in initiatives such as local tourism, heritage, community health care, youth services and recreation.

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of social enterprises to grow their enterprises in a sustainable manner. To this end, a combination of one-to-one mentoring and training has been developed, including:

1. The delivery of one-to-one business coaching to 24 social enterprises. Each selected participant will receive 2 days (4 half days) of customised coaching and mentoring.
2. The delivery of a total of eight skills development workshops run in two hub locations (Moate and Kilkenny) on Governance, HR, Change Management and Digital Marketing.
3. The delivery of one-to-one applied digital marketing coaching and mentoring to five social enterprises.

The process is tailored to suit the needs of individual social enterprises and lends itself to an action-oriented approach to addressing growth and sustainability issues. We aim to complete this programme by the end of June 2020.

The programme is provided with the support of the Department of Rural and Community Development: https://www.pobal.ie/programmes/dormant-accounts-fund-daf/

This project was approved by Government with support from the Dormant Accounts Fund

Carmichael have released three more podcasts in its Governance Podcast Series.

Episode 5 features Louise Thomson Head of Policy (Not-for-Profits) at ICSA The Chartered Governance Institute where she talks about the importance of boardroom behaviours and ethics.

Episode 6 covers the speeches at the 2019 Good Governance Awards and contains some very helpful insights from the judges on what made this year’s winners stand out.

Episode 7 is Louise Thomson’s key note speech at the 2019 Good Governance Awards where she covers key developments in not-for-profit governance in England and Wales.

These 3 new episodes and all our previous Carmichael podcasts are available from most podcast platforms – Soundcloud, Apple, Spotify.

Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Ireland (PWSAI) will host the International PWS Conference in Limerick in 2022.

The successful bid was made by PWSAI at the recent Global IPWSO conference in Cuba, which was attended by over 450 delegates from 45 countries.

IPWSO’s international conference is held every three years, and each time in a different country.

PWSAI was one of four countries bidding to hold the 11th conference in 2022.
The Association received strong support from family members, clinicians, an Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health, Simon Harris and was successful in winning the bid. The event will be hosted in the University of Limerick in 2022. “We have a strong community of people with PWS as well as their families and professionals,” explained PWSAI Development Officer and member of the bid team Gary Brennan. “The hosting of this conference will enable further shared expertise, knowledge and an increased awareness of PWS on a national and global level”.

About Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Ireland (PWSAI)

PWSAI was started by parents in the late 1980s as a support group for people with Prader-Willi Syndrome and their families in Ireland. They are a resident member group with Carmichael.

Objectives of PWSAI are:

• To provide support for persons with PWS, their families, and their carers by providing a range of services such as: promoting awareness of the syndrome; providing information services including seminars and conferences; and by promoting best practice standards of care for persons with PWS;
• To facilitate the development of each person with PWS to the full extent of their abilities in an educational, social, work, and leisure context;
• To facilitate awareness and understanding of PWS among the general public, among health professionals, teachers, etc.;
• To facilitate earlier diagnosis of the syndrome;
• To encourage and support research into PWS.

The Winners of the 2019 Good Governance Awards were announced on 14th November at a special event in the National Concert Hall, kindly hosted by Davy.

Winner of Best Governance Improvement Initiative Awards Category 1 = Sligo Volunteer Centre

Winner of Best Governance Improvement Initiative Awards Category 2 = Solas Cancer Support Centre

Winner of Best Governance Improvement Initiative Awards Category 3 = The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation

Winner of Best Governance Improvement Initiative Awards Category 4 = LauraLynn Children’s Hospice

Winner of Best Governance Improvement Initiative Awards Category 5 = Trócaire

Winner of Annual Report Awards Category 1 = Helium Arts

Winner of Annual Report Awards Category 2 = Children’s Rights Alliance

Winner of Annual Report Awards Category 3 = The Care Trust

Winner of Annual Report Awards Category 4 = Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health

Winner of Annual Report Awards Category 5 = Trócaire

Further information can be viewed on https://goodgovernanceawards.ie/winners-2019/.

Davy Constitutional Consulting.
Good Governance Awards 2019.
Iain White – Fennell Photography.

Davy Constitutional Consulting.
Good Governance Awards 2019.
Iain White – Fennell Photography.

Davy Constitutional Consulting.
Good Governance Awards 2019.
Iain White – Fennell Photography.

FirstLight – a long established, national charity providing professional crisis intervention and counselling services to parents and families suddenly bereaved is seeking to recruit a Clinical Services Director and Clinical Services Manager.

The Clinical Services Director will be based in FirstLight’s Offices (Carmichael Centre, 4 North Brunswick Street, Dublin 2), will be a member of the senior leadership team and will contribute both strategically and operationally to the overall success of the organisation by leading effectively on client clinical services.

The Clinical Services Manager will be located in a region outside Dublin and will support the Clinical Services Director and deputise for him/her when appropriate. The regional location will be influenced by the location of the preferred candidate.Both positions are 2-year contract positions: the Clinical Services Director position is for 32 hours (4 days) per week; the Clinical Services Manager position is for 24 hours (3 days) per week.

A strong understanding of and empathy with FirstLight’s mission and objectives is essential as is a values driven approach to work based on integrity and service.

For the full job description and application form, visit https://firstlight.ie/clinical-services-director-and-manager-positions/.

We really enjoyed talking to Jillian Van Turnhout in our 4th episode of Carmichael podcast on the topic of “when things go wrong in charities”. This episode follows on from previous topics which looked at the Annual Report, the Charities Governance Code and Risk Management. Here’s link to this episode. https://soundcloud.com/user-982606224/when-things-go-wrong.

Episode 3 which covers Risk Management with Andrew Madden is available at https://soundcloud.com/user-982606224/risk-and-risk-management.