Centre Social Governance

The GUBERNA Centre Social Governance aims to add value to all types of social profit organisations by using best practices in good governance. The aim of this centre is to be able to offer and apply GUBERNA's governance knowledge to any type of social profit organisation.

Since social profit organisations represent a diverse landscape, GUBERNA tailors initiatives to sectors and types of organisations. The hospital sector, sports sector, cultural sector, etc. are given a specific place within the centre.

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For whom?

GUBERNA Centre Social Governance is the governance partner for all Belgian social profit organisations. We hereby reach organisations with a multitude of activities and sub-sectors ranging from hospitals, healthcare and social services to culture, leisure and sports. What unites these sectors is that they all have the goal of creating social added value. By optimising the governance of these organisations, together we seek to increase their impact.

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Social profit organisations

GUBERNA Centre Social Governance is the governance partner for all Belgian social profit organisations. See all activities organised by GUBERNA from the centre social profit below.
Sports Governance

With respect for the sports practitioner, sports organisations and the public interest, GUBERNA aims to promote good governance in sport, and to support Belgian sports federations, leagues and clubs, and the various stakeholders (sponsors, media, researchers, government ...) in the Communities in their implementation. We work to build a growing community of like-minded people across communities, where information and knowledge and good practices are shared.
GUBERNA is committed to promoting governance practices within the healthcare sector, particularly in hospitals

Activities

The Centre Social Governance and its members form a dynamic platform for the exchange of experiences and knowledge transfer in the field of social governance. GUBERNA has developed a pragmatic methodology in approaching social profit organisations that focuses on a proper balance between theoretical concepts, principles on the one hand and best practices, exchange of experiences on the other.

In 2019, GUBERNA's Social Governance Centre launched the "Hospital Governance Forum" with the aim of bringing together GUBERNA members active in the hospital sector. This platform enables members to exchange experiences, best practices and issues related to hospital governance among peers.

Hospital Governance Forum

The Hospital Governance Forum is an initiative of GUBERNA launched in 2019. The purpose of the forum is to bring together GUBERNA members active in the hospital sector. This platform gives them an opportunity to exchange experiences on all kinds of issues related to hospital governance among peers. Given the major changes in this sector, we pay special attention to this and develop initiatives and tools to support actors in the sector in the governance challenges they face.

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Sports sponsorship charter

The quality of governance in Belgian sports organisations has evolved significantly in recent years. From society, there is an increasing demand for transparency and accountability. Moreover, government subsidies are also increasingly linked to good governance criteria. From this perspective, roundtable discussions with a number of sports federations and sponsors were organised, resulting in a sports sponsorship charter.

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Different ways to engage with us

Through the work of the Centre Social Governance, GUBERNA has gained specific knowledge and insights into the application of good governance in social-profit organisations. In addition to research, the Centre Social Governance also offers specific services such as governance evaluations, in-company trainings and governance trajectories. To further address the specific governance issues of the social-profit sector, GUBERNA has also developed a social-profit membership. In this way, GUBERNA aims to serve social enterprises even better.

In order to build trust and maintain integrity, GUBERNA emphasizes the importance of a strong governance framework that aligns with the organization's values and goals.

Werner Sels

CEO, Ondernemen Zonder Grenzen

Webinars corporate governance in the social profit sector

With the support of the Belgian National Lottery and its players, we created a webinar series, each about 20 minutes long. In each video, we and actors active in social profit organisations take a closer look at the essential elements of board governance.

Goed bestuur op maat van de socialprofit sector - webinarreeks

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Publications for the social governance centre

GUBERNA's Social Governance Centre has studied a number of important public governance topics over the years. They can be summarised as follows:

The professionalisation of the board of directors and its members
The interaction within the board triumvirate
The governance practices of social profit organisations as inspiration for profit organisations
The role of stakeholders in organisational governance
The role of hospital governance, co-governance and network governance in hospital performance

Featured publications

Social profit organisations as inspiration: how can governance be used to achieve (sustainable) impact?

As the transition to a sustainable economy accelerates, many companies are wondering how to create sustainable value. And what role does governance play in this? Against this background, many companies recognise the importance of measuring their impact not only in economic terms, but also in environmental, cultural, social and political terms. From this perspective, NPOs have gained valuable experience in creating social value. They can serve as inspiration for other types of organisations involved in their own transition and that of the world around them.
Are social profit organisations an inspiration to realise more sustainable impact?

Interview with Brieuc Van Damme, CEO of the King Baudewijn Foundation. We chose a topical and fascinating governance issue around sustainable value creation that can interest directors from both the social profit and for-profit sectors.
Recommendations for social profit organisations

In 2010, on the initiative of the King Baudouin Foundation, a steering group of some 20 people from the social profit sector (chairmen, directors or directors of the various sub-sectors) worked out recommendations around the governance of social profit organisations (SPOs). The members of the steering committee all participated in this initiative in their own name. With these recommendations, the King Baudouin Foundation wants to provide a tool for the organisations so that they would ask the right questions about good governance.

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Urgenda: how urgently should climate change be put on the agenda of the board?

On our first digital member forum onthe 21st of April we will reflect upon the impact of the Urgenda legal case on the accountability of companies. But what/who is Urgenda? Why is a court ruling on climate change against the Dutch government significant for Belgian companies? Which lessons can a board of directors take away from this case? And what will be the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on the climate debate?

Resilience Tips & Tricks - extended

Resilience Tips & Tricks

Resilience Bullet Points

Proxy resolutions following COVID-19 measures

General Member Assembly 2020 - Lessons learned

Monthly Newsletter- March 2020

Consultation on gender imbalance in corporate boards in the EU

Cycle of videos focusing on governance within Social Profit Organisations

Are you interested in the Governance of Social Profit Organisations? Are you active in a non-profit organisation and/or do you want to improve/add value to your role as a director, manager or volunteer?

Liber Amicorum Prof. Dr. Lutgart Van den Berghe

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GUBERNA Magazine 2019

Want to be kept up-to-date on what is happening in governance and at GUBERNA? Check our 3-lingual magazine.

Multi-stakeholder governance in social organisations

Sociale ondernemingen zijn ondernemingen die sociale en maatschappelijke problemen, zoals armoede, sociale uitsluiting en ecologische problemen willen aanpakken en dit doen door het verhandelen van goederen en/of diensten. Ze onderscheiden zich van non-profit organisaties doordat ze hun financiële middelen verwerven via het uitoefenen van een ondernemingsactiviteit en niet (alleen) uit giften en subsidies. Ze onderscheiden zich van reguliere, commerciële organisaties omwille van het dominante sociale doel dat ze nastreven. Sociaal ondernemerschap krijgt in toenemende mate aandacht van beleidsmakers en academici als een middel om sociale en maatschappelijke problemen op te lossen.

Opinion - The strength lies in difference, not in equality

Supplementary Work Act: can you earn EUR 500 per month untaxed as a non-profit director?

UBO-registration latest by 30 September 2019. Already on the agenda of your board of directors?

"Male, pale & stale” is dead, long live diversity!

The 'glass ceiling' is familiar to us all, as are the quota laws, because they are supposed to bring solace. For GUBERNA, however, this is not the focus. We are indeed a great advocate of more women in managerial positions and especially on boards of directors. It is not for nothing that we have been addressing this topic in our operations for a long time. The successful mentoring programme is one example of this. But gender is only one piece of the puzzle. 'Diversity' is the greater goal for GUBERNA.