FAQs

The Digi-Board reviews the effectiveness of governance practices of charities and not-for profit organisations. The governance review is equivalent to and is sometimes called a board evaluation or board effectiveness review.

It assesses all the factors that are critical to achieving good governance. Our questionnaires are based upon the principles of good governance as defined in the relevant code e.g. the Charity Governance Code, the National Housing Federation (NHF) Code of Governance etc.

The questionnaires all assess board effectiveness against a standard format which includes:-
– A code’s principles.
– Board behaviours and culture.
– Use of digital.

Optional topics can be added according to the organisation’s requirements such as safeguarding, fundraising and board committees.

The review is designed for the Board and other participants to reflect on how well they govern their organisation. It is designed to build engagement in the governance process, and helps participants learn about the drivers of good governance and board effectiveness as they complete our questionnaires. 

Simply put – it’s a convenient and easy way to deliver an independent self-assessment of how your organisation is governed, assessed against the critical factors that shape your governance. This includes the principles of the Charity Governance Code, the National Housing Federation (NHF) Code of Governance as well as board behaviours and culture and, use of digital. Optional topics can be added according to the organisation’s requirements such as safeguarding, fundraising and governance of board committees.

A key feature in the design of our questionnaire was to make them easy to set-up, convenient to use and to save time and money when compared with a traditional interview-led governance review. Individual responses to the questionnaire are anonymised to ensure they remain confidential.

The participants responses are aggregated to compile a collective view of your organisation’s governance.

We can provide Digi-Board customers, with information about how your organisation’s scores compare with the relevant sector’s benchmark.  All benchmarking data is fully anonymised from data collected from completed reviews. Note: We never provide benchmarking of one organisation to compare to another. 

Digi-Board has created a new way for organisations to assess their governance using advanced data analytics.  This enables detailed analysis of your organisation’s governance. 

One benefit of providing an online service is that reports can be available as soon as all participants have completed the questionnaire in “real time”.  This is very helpful where time constraints exist.

We can complete a governance reviews in two weeks -elapsed time.  The demand for alternative online services has increased in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digi-Board’s questionnaires mean that governance reviews are available at the convenience of the participants and reduce the need for lengthy face to face interviews.

Digi-Board’s pricing has been set to offer a cost-effective governance review service. These can be found by going to the pricing page on our website.

The basic service provides access to the questionnaire for a number of participants depending on the size of the organisation. There is an additional cost for adding more participants if required.

The questionnaire is delivered online and accessed via the Internet anytime (24/7) for a set period of time that is agreed with your organisation e.g. the questionnaire will be available for three weeks for participants to complete and submit their responses.

Optional services can also be purchased are if required to support you with interpreting the results or if you require independent analysis and detailed reporting of the results.

The process can also be repeated by purchasing another questionnaire to compare period-on-period progress e.g. year on year.

Access to the service is available for one year from the date of activation.

Digi-Board will retain your organisation’s reports of previous reviews to allow period-on-period comparisons. These allow your organisation to monitor and report on progress made towards achieving more effective governance. If you prefer that reports are deleted then please ask, being aware that this will also disable period-on-period comparisons in the future.

The service includes the facility to download reports during the period of an active subscription. Requests for the download of reports outside of an active subscription can be made available at an additional cost.

To comply with our obligations under GDPR: – we require explicit consent to retain any Personal Identifiable Information data such as email addresses which are required to provide access to the online questionnaire and reports. Personal Identifiable Information will be held for a grace period of 365 days after expiry of a subscription; after which it will deleted and not recoverable.

The Digi-Board services are designed specifically for charities and not-for-profit organisations to assess their governance. This may also be called a board evaluation or a board effectiveness review.

Powerful data analytics enable comparisons for example to assess the extent of alignment between the Board and Senior Leadership teams, or to compare governance practices of regional branches of a national organisation. We can also compare organisations that are membership based.

The review can be used as a stand-alone internal self-assessment tool. It also satisfies the conditions for an externally facilitated review by purchasing the optional services of an online consultation and independent customised report.

You decide who is included and this often depends on the size and structure of your organisation and whether you have staff.

Typically participants will include the key individuals involved in governing your organisation to include: the chair, non-executive directors, trustees, directors, members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and sometimes external advisors.

The tool can also be used to assess governance across branches e.g. where an organisation has regional offices with separate governance arrangements.

This is a rare occurrence and we monitor the responses to maximise participation. We send out reminders and provide a regular status updates to the nominated ‘administrator’.

Please note that the results and reports can only reflect the views of those who submitted completed questionnaires. We advise that the Chair deals with any reservations prior to committing to the review.

The review looks to provide assurance and to inform and protect the Board to achieve the standard of governance that is expected of it by the regulator. This relies on the commitment of all those responsible for governance. The review is non-judgemental and is designed to demonstrate and evidence how the organisation conducts its governance and evaluates the board’s effectiveness.

To safeguard confidentiality and anonymity we will only report comparisons where we have 3 or more respondents in a ‘reporting group’.

It is often said that governance is a process and not a one-time event.  An annual review can assist the Board in understanding the progress it is making with its governance. Having a year-on-year comparison available will also satisfy the external reporting requirements for most charity and not-for-profit governance codes.

Digi-Board’s service satisfies the requirements for an independent externally facilitated evaluation of governance every three years; which is often recommended for larger organisations.

A unique link to access the review is sent via email to each participant, who then sets their own personal password. The review is easily completed by clicking on the multiple-choice responses to each question with the option to add additional comments.

The questionnaire can be completed in one go – or in multiple visits, which some participants prefer.

Typically 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the number of comments made. It does not have to be completed in a single sitting. A completion date is set at the start of review process, typically for 2 to 3 weeks elapsed time. Once the review is closed, charts and other information are available online to be viewed and/or downloaded by the organisation’s nominated administrator.

As soon as the administrator closes the review, a range or reports, charts and graphs will be available to view online and can be downloaded.

Your organisation has the option to purchase either a confidential board report prepared by Digi-Board and/or an online consultation to support with the interpretation of the results.

Different services can also be made available through our team of associate consultants who specialise in working with charities and not-for-profits.

The results are available online and compiled to include all quantitative and qualitative analysis and commentary. The primary purpose of the report is to inform the board’s discussions to enable continuous improvement in governance by answering: What do we need to do to improve our charity’s governance?

Individual responses to the questionnaire will not be seen by nor be identifiable to any other participant. This anonymity encourages participants to be authentic in their responses unaffected by any organisational politics or other influencing factors.

To safeguard confidentiality and anonymity we will only report comparisons where we have 3 or more respondents in a ‘reporting group’.

Digi-Board partner with consultants who use the Digi-Board governance review in the delivery of their services. Our services are available online, however if you prefer to work with a local consultant we will gladly make an introduction. Please use the form on our contact page indicating your town and county and we will put you in touch.

If you have lost the URL to access the Digi-Board questionnaire go to digiboard.ipitsi.com/Dashboard or visit thedigiboard.co.uk/login Input your user name and password to enter. There is an option to reset your password if you have forgotten it.

If you have forgotten your user name then please email support @ thedigiboard.co.uk identifying your organisation’s name & your first and last name.

Here are some tips on what actions to take in this event.

Most email programmes and services use filters to stop spam. There may be times when an email is incorrectly filtered and is sent directly to your Spam or Junk folder. To ensure you receive your personal invitation email to participate in the governance review, please add support@thedigiboard.co.uk to your safe senders list.

Alternatively, if you are using your work email address, you may need to ask your IT department to add the domain ‘thedigiboard.co.uk’ to the safe senders lists or “whitelists” that they maintain. If this is not possible, then you can substitute your work email with a personal email address.

For further instructions, select your email service:

Microsoft Outlook – 1. On the Tools menu, click Options. 2. On the Preferences tab, under E-mail, click Junk E-mail. 3. Click the Safe Senders or Safe Recipients tab. 4. Click Add. 5. Enter an e-mail address or Internet domain name to be added to the list box, enter the name or address you want added, and then click OK.

Microsoft Outlook 2003 – If an inbound email has ended up in the Junk E-mail folder 1. Right-click on the message you wish to receive 2. Hold your mouse pointer over Junk Email and choose Add Sender to Safe Senders List or Add Sender’s Domain (@example) to Safe Senders List.

AOL – 1. Open the Junk Email folder 2. Click on the email you wish to receive and click the This Is Not Spam button.
Windows Live / Hotmail – 1. Open the Junk Email folder 2. Click on the email you wish to receive 3. Either click Not Junk on the top menu bar or Not Junk mail on the yellow warning bar

Gmail/GoogleMail – 1. Open the Spam folder (this is sometimes hidden behind the under the MORE link in the left-hand column) 2. Open the email you wish to receive and click the Not Spam button in the menu bar

All questions are made available when you are invited to participate in a governance review. There is no need to see the questions ahead of your participation.  No pre-reading is required, nor knowledge of governance.  The questions have been designed to guide you through the completion of your input to the review.  While completing your input you will learn about all aspects of governance and best practices.  The questions are informative, while the real value of your governance review is in the analysis.  The techniques we use for presentation of the questions and analysis are proprietary and subject to copyright.

Reports are made available immediately upon closure of your governance review.  There is no waiting for a report, you can access your results immediately.  The reports can be viewed online or downloaded as a Word document.  There are two options available to you if you require further assistance. Option 1 choose the Online Consultation.  Option 2 choose the Customised Report.  Further information is available on our  Pricing page.