Concern wins Good Governance Award

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Concern Worldwide has won a 2020 Good Governance Award for its annual reporting.

The international humanitarian organisation won the award for large not-for-profit organisations, at a virtual awards ceremony last night.

The Good Governance Awards, developed by Carmichael, recognises and encourages adherence to good governance practice by non-profit organisations in Ireland.

“Concern is delighted to receive this award, which is recognition of the hard work which has been done by our board and staff to ensure the organisation is run to the highest standards,” Concern Chief Executive Dominic MacSorley said. “Our supporters and partners – Irish Aid, the corporate sector and the general public – generously fund our work, and our responsibility is to be fully accountable and transparent, not only to them, but also and importantly to the communities we serve. “

The judges commented that Concern’s annual report provided a good overview of performance indicators of the organisation’s achievements during the year in relation to each of its strategic goals. It also included good disclosure of the actioned recommendations for improvement to its governance system, as highlighted by a 2018 evaluation.

Strong Story Telling

“Ultimately, though, what distinguished the winning report for the judges was that the report was the strongest in actually telling the story,” the judges noted. “The winning report contained some very compelling and strong storytelling. The winning organisation also won on consistency, in the use of metrics in relation to the various programmes, and good COVID disclosures as well as being an all-round well balanced report’”.

Mr MacSorley paid tribute to the sector as a whole and in particular to the other organisations shortlisted for the award: the Central Remedial Clinic; Barnardos; Oxfam; and Trócaire.

In recent months Concern has also been awarded Charity of the Year at the Charity Excellence Awards and received the 2020 Published Accounts Award. “2020 has been a particularly challenging year for Concern and all not-for-profit organisations, but the external recognition which these awards provide of the quality of the work being done is a tremendous encouragement for our staff, volunteers and supporters,” Mr MacSorley said. “It inspires us to work harder to achieve our goal of ending extreme poverty.”

For media queries contact Eamon Timmins, Media Relations Manager, at eamon.timmins@concern.net or 087 9880524.