National honours for Kilkenny Volunteer Centre

Kilkenny Volunteer Centre scooped the top prize in their nominated category at the National Good Governance Awards which took place in Thursday, 16th November, in Chartered Accountants House Dublin.

On the night, Kilkenny Volunteer Centre was announced as the overall winner of Category 2 which recognises non-profits with an annual turnover of €100-250K.

Now in its 8th year, the Good Governance Awards is an initiative that recognises and encourages adherence to good governance practice and transparency by nonprofits across Ireland.  

The awards were developed by Carmichael Ireland with the support of key partners including leading bodies from the legal, financial and nonprofit sector such as Department of Rural and Community Development, Mazars, Chartered Accountants Ireland, Pobal, the Wheel, PWC and Grant Thornton to name but a few.

This year, 134 non-profit organisations entered their annual reports and financial statements into the awards to be assessed by the expert panel of judges under the criteria of transparency, governance, strategy, and financial information.  

Delivering feedback on behalf of the judging panel,  Dr. Thomas Courtney from Arthur Cox LLP noted that Kilkenny Volunteer Centre’s 2022 Annual Report was “punching well above its weight” for a charity of its size.    He commended Kilkenny Volunteer Centre on a particularly strong report coming from such a young organisation stating that the financial review was transparent and the report provided great detail on the organisation's impact and performance.    He concluded his feedback by congratulating the management and board of Kilkenny Volunteer Centre for their operations, transparency and robust governance as well as their clear commitment to ongoing improvement.

Commenting on the achievement, Salena Grace, Manager of Kilkenny Volunteer Centre said:  “Kilkenny Volunteer Centre is absolutely delighted to receive this award which recognises the massive efforts made by our board of management and our staff to ensure that our organisation operates in accordance with the highest standards in our sector.    

"Good governance is something that we strongly pride ourselves on and have worked hard to embed in our organisation.  It is therefore a massive honour for our small and relatively new charity to be recognised for our governance alongside such esteemed national organisations as Barretstown, Jigsaw and Trocaire. I would like to thank to our board, staff and volunteers for helping to make this happen and a huge thanks to Carmichael and the judging panel for this recognition.”

Mags Whelan, chairperson of Kilkenny Volunteer Centre noted: “Winning a good governance award is a magnificent achievement for Kilkenny Volunteer Centre.  Good governance is about more than just compliance with regulatory bodies.  It is about building a whole culture of transparency, openness and accountability within our organisation to build public trust.   This award is a clear confirmation that our organisation is well run and that we embrace best practice in the nonprofit sector. ”  

Further information about the Good Governance Awards can be found here: https://goodgovernanceawards.ie/  To find out more information about Kilkenny Volunteer Centre:  visit https://volunteerkilkenny.ie