Constitutions help set the rules guiding the operation of nonprofits. They are important because they establish procedures that everyone can rely on and give a level of certainty about how the organisation should be run; the rules and processes provided in the constitution binds the board, the organisation and its members. Legally, a nonprofit’s constitution is what the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) uses to determine its object and decide if it is indeed, a nonprofit.

The first thing nonprofits need to understand when setting up their organisation or applying formally to the Corporate Affairs Commission is to ensure that their board meets either physically or online to discuss the constitution and agree to its adoption; the minutes of this meeting must be documented for future purposes.

When drafting a constitution, nonprofits should ensure that their constitution states the name or title of the organisation, clearly articulates the aims/objects(charitable purpose) of the organisation, clearly sets out the role/powers of the board indicating their job descriptions, appointment/tenure of office and replacement of trustees, how meetings of the board are called and held and what would happen if the organisation must wind up.

At this point, it is important for the prospective board(trustees) to read the constitution and accept responsibility through a signed document for leading the governance of the organisation and ensuring its effectiveness.

It is highly recommended that nonprofits do not copy and paste their organisational constitution to ensure that the constitution and governance documents accurately reflects their organisations’ peculiarities, situations that are unique to how their organisation operates or will operate; this constitution should contain rules that the particular nonprofit understand and will be able to follow.

Ultimately, nonprofits are required to have in place a constitution that governs its operations and safeguards it for efficient and effective running of day to day activities.  

This newsletter is supported by the Commonwealth Foundation. However, the ideas and opinions presented in this document do not necessarily represent those of Commonwealth Foundation, NNNGO or any other organisations mentioned. 

Partnerships among CSOs and various stakeholders are vital to cooperation, collaboration and problem-solving as all these are built on trust, mutuality, accountability and solidarity.

In a bid to pursue equitable partnerships and solidarity, there is a need for CSOs to see themselves as partners rather than competitors. This translates to a commitment to goals, efforts, and problems of other development actors in order to facilitate effective collaborations and information sharing which allows for local, national and global development.

It is important to note, however, that openness among all stakeholders; government, private sector, civil society, and the citizens will minimize the rate of conflicts while ensuring equitable partnerships and solidarity.

The sixth Istanbul principle of development effectiveness states thus – “CSOs are effective as development actors when they commit to transparent relationships with CSOs and other development actors,freely and as equals, based on shared development goals and values, mutual respect, trust, organizational autonomy, long-term accompaniment, solidarity and global citizenship”.

CSOs are encouraged to collaborate with other organisations who share their goals in order to maximize resources to achieve bigger impact. Even though the challenges of partnerships cannot be overlooked, CSOs must develop strong systems of conflict resolution to address disputes and issues that may arise during collaborations.

Nonprofit mergers are becoming a common trend in many countries and are now a topic of discussion among nonprofit leaders, board and funders. Mergers provide an avenue to preserve and strengthen needed service provided by nonprofits to diverse communities.

The Part F of the Companies and Allied Matters Act recognizes mergers; paving the way for nonprofits with similar objects and aims to merge under terms and conditions prescribed by the Corporate Affairs Commission. Lessons from studies and research have shown that mergers; improve image, reputation and public support for nonprofits, increases financial stability and efficiency of operations.

Merging might also help address issues of duplication of efforts and avoiding solvency especially with the difficult economic climate and the fact that the funding terrain for nonprofits is adversely affected.

With the passing of the amended Part F of CAMA, we anticipate an increase in the consideration for mergers by nonprofits to develop greater organizational efficiencies relating to programming, administrative capacity and financial sustainability.

Nonprofit considering mergers should ensure that they fuse with organisations that have similar mission and vision as them, make use of experts in the merger process and seek specialized knowledge on what the structure or emerging organisation, function and legal aspect of the merger would look like.

Nonprofits should also ensure that funders involved in the merger are given the opportunity to give input into the planning; the merging process should be seen as a collaborative one by identifying potential mutual gains that could be realized in the merger. 

This newsletter is supported by the Commonwealth Foundation. However, the ideas and opinions presented in this document do not necessarily represent those of Commonwealth Foundation, NNNGO or any other organisations mentioned. 

Transparency and accountability are pivotal to achieving an effective civil society. Transparency refers to being honest and open; by implication, civil society organisations are expected to be clear enough for private and public scrutiny. Accountability is the ability for CSOs to willingly answer and take responsibility for their actions (decisions, activities or policies) and results. This is central to discussions relating to problems in non-profits as they are the two main pillars of good corporate governance and generally guide the way NGOs are operated, regulated or controlled.

Inline with fostering transparency and accountability, there is the need for CSOs to put in place internal self-regulatory mechanisms that serve as a check to their various activities, this is reflected in their governance strategy and structure, human resource and management, project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, and their financial management and sustainability.

The measures include – complying with registration and reporting requirements, adopting a core vision, values and mission, electing a board to guide its mission and review its performance, publishing annual reports, documenting administrative procedure, documenting project work plans and budgets, having a monitoring and evaluation system in place, providing sound account of fund management(recording all financial transactions with relevant receipts and supporting documents); putting systems in place to prevent fraud -such as regular audits,two signatures to account; constituent/ stakeholder feedbacks; among others.

CSOs are accountable to the government, donors, beneficiaries (people), partners, mission, board, staff and their fellow CSOs. This fosters responsiveness to the needs of their communities, the people they work with and other stakeholders engaged in development. Hence, proper accountability measures facilitate increase donor and citizen support.

Through advocacy, CSOs have played a critical role in promoting transparency and accountability within the government and the general society which has yielded positive results. However, they have been encouraged to improve their transparency and accountability mechanisms especially due to the increased rate of money laundering and terrorist financing activities that CSOs can be vulnerable to. To maintain public trust, CSOs need to work on improving their level of transparency and accountability.