Benchmarking Tool
Benchmarks can be a helpful governance tool to guide organisations through the complex terrain of performance, efficiency, and improvement. They are the quantitative yardsticks against which we measure progress, identify opportunities, and set strategic direction.
This benchmark aims to support the recruitment and retention of board members. It is not designed to measure directly whether an organisation is diverse but whether its governance arrangements encourage a diverse board.
Good governance supports transparency and consistency whilst recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach will not be appropriate for EDI.
By establishing clear and measurable standards for governance of board diversity, organisations can:
- Identify gaps: Review current practice and consider whether any aspects of governance could be changed to support a more diverse board.
- Set goals: Organisations can set specific, achievable targets for changing their governance arrangements based on the identified gaps.
- Measure progress: Regular assessment against benchmarks allows organisations to track their efforts and demonstrate accountability to their communities.
If the governance arrangements are robust, then an organisation is more likely to be able to recruit and support a more diverse board. Organisations with diverse boards demonstrate that they can:
- Enhance decision-making: A diverse board brings a broader range of experiences, perspectives, and knowledge, leading to more informed and effective decision-making.
- Build trust: By reflecting the communities they serve, diverse boards can strengthen stakeholder relationships and build trust.
- Attract and retain talent: A commitment to diversity can enhance an organisation’s reputation and make it a more attractive place for potential board members and staff.
- Provide EDI leadership: A diverse board sets an example about working practices for all the organisation’s workers and volunteers.
Definitions and concepts
EDI: Equality (or Equity), Diversity and Inclusion or sometimes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI):
- Equality: every person has the same opportunities.
- Diversity: differences are recognised and respected.
- Inclusion: every person is welcomed, respected and able to participate.
- Which organisations should use the Benchmark?: We use organisation to mean any group, society, association, company, charity or other body with an identified number of people tasked with strategic decision making. The EDI Benchmark has been specifically designed for cultural organisations in the voluntary sector, but it may also be helpful for other bodies such as collaborations and informal partnerships.
- What is meant by the ‘board’: We use ‘board’ to describe those people who are tasked with the strategic decision making for their organisation. It may be a formal board of directors or trustees, a committee or steering group.
- Charity Governance Code (2024) Principle 6:
“The board has a clear, agreed and effective approach to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the organisation and in its own practice. This approach supports good governance and the delivery of the organisation’s … purposes.”
Resources
How the benchmark works
This benchmark consists of 10 core principles for the governance of board diversity.
An organisation is invited to reflect on the extent to which each core principle is part of its current governance arrangements.
Each core principle can be allocated a score:
- Not applicable, don’t know, no opinion
- The board is aware of key issues to be addressed but currently has no or very few plans to address them
- The board acknowledges the key issues and is developing approaches or plans to address them, but there needs to be more implementation.
- The board has well-developed plans to address key issues with significant examples of implementation.
- The board can show clear evidence of good practice and is reviewing its approach to ensure long term improvement.
Each core principle has:
- Sources of further information and guidance
- A description to explain why the principle is important
- 3 Core versions:
- Suggested Level 1 indicators of good governance for all organisations
- Suggested Level 2 indicators of good governance for medium-sized organisations, or with additional resources to support a more sophisticated approach
- Suggested Level 3 indicators of good governance for larger organisations or those that require the most sophisticated approaches.
Benchmark outcomes
By using the benchmark, each organisation will be able to:
- Identify strengths and weaknesses relative to the benchmark.
- Analyse performance gaps to understand areas for improvement.
- Rank the ten core principles based on their impact on overall performance.
- Focus efforts on the areas with the most significant potential for improvement.
- Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for each prioritised core principle.
- Align governance and diversity goals with the overall organisational strategy.
- Develop and implement action plans to address identified gaps.
- Monitor progress towards goals regularly.
- Make necessary adjustments to plans as needed.
- Assess the effectiveness of improvement initiatives.
- Measure progress towards goals.
- Determine if the benchmark remains relevant and accurate.
- Share benchmark results and improvement efforts with stakeholders.
- Build consensus and support for change.
- Celebrate successes and learn from challenges.
- Use benchmark data to inform ongoing decision-making.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement.
- Update the benchmark as needed to reflect changing circumstances.
- Contribute to the development of a sector-wide benchmark.
- Share best practices and lessons learned with others in the field.