5 min read

What Is The Role of The Treasurer?

By Lottie Wright on 16/05/23 17:36

There are many different roles and responsibilities that Board Members can have within an organisation, and these positions require different skills and expertise to help achieve the Board’s goals.

Topics: Governance Business Insights
3 min read

Convene Sponsors The ESG Summit 2023

By Lottie Wright on 28/04/23 15:05

On Thursday 27th April 2023, Convene sponsored Chartered Governance Institute’s annual ESG Summit in London. We want to thank the CGI as well as all speakers and attendees for participating in such an engaging Summit.

The ESG Summit focused on exploring the changing Environmental, Social and Governance landscape for Boards, and answering questions about how organisations can contend with developing regulations, both in the UK and globally.

There was a specific emphasis on how “the ‘G’ in ESG underpins and facilitates the ‘E’ and the ‘S’”, and how governance professionals are key in ensuring their organisations meet ESG standards. 

There were several compelling presentations, panels and case studies at the Summit, including talks about how governance is at the heart of establishing good ESG practices, how to tackle greenwashing accusations from a governance perspective and how to nurture a diverse Board and make sure inclusion policies are embedded throughout your organisation.

The Summit also facilitated many discussions about ESG reporting, from how organisations are responding to ESG disclosure requirements to how you can improve the quality of the ESG data collected.

This is where Convene ESG came in as a sponsor of the event.

a3a43654-4515-4edd-8592-55de563cb0d6-1
94ae029b-076a-46e8-8fa9-9bd7b722f07d-1
6603f34b-899d-4f34-9a16-a9ab39e3530e
Topics: Governance Sustainability ESG Business Insights Why Convene?
6 min read

How Can Your Board Deal With Instability?

By Lottie Wright on 31/03/23 15:54

In recent years, there have been many times when what the future held was uncertain, unstable and unknowable. Whether this was caused by a fluctuating economy, global pandemic or any other factors, many organisations have had to face and deal with these kinds of crises.

Topics: Governance Business Insights
5 min read

What Are The Different Types Of Audit Reports?

By Lottie Wright on 23/03/23 16:14

Audit reports are a crucial and necessary aspect of running any organisation, and are an important process to understand. 

The goal of an audit report is to document that a company’s financial statements are free from error, and they matter greatly for the success of your organisation.

Topics: Governance Business Insights
3 min read

Housing Finance 2023: What We Learnt

By Lottie Wright on 16/03/23 19:07

On the 15th and 16th of March, Convene attended the Housing Finance Conference and Exhibition 2023 in Liverpool. We want to thank the NHF, as well as all speakers and attendees for putting on and participating in an engaging and insightful conference. If you missed our talk, please join us at our Inside Housing Webinar next week.

The Housing Finance Conference focused on ‘building resilience through turbulent times’, and featured many interesting talks on topics surrounding the cost of living, sustainability and green finance, cybersecurity and the future of the housing sector.

Topics: Governance Switching Board Portal ESG SRS for Social Housing Housing Why Convene?
4 min read

How To Integrate ESG into Your Housing Governance Processes

By Gabriella Mangham on 10/03/23 17:09

Housing Associations are paving the way for other sectors with their ESG efforts, but the task of ESG shouldn’t just fall on one ESG manager. ESG needs to be integrated into everyone’s day-to-day task management and governance processes. Here are our helpful tips on how this can be achieved simply and seamlessly.

Topics: Governance Sustainability ESG SRS for Social Housing Housing
6 min read

What Does The Board Of Directors Do?

By Lottie Wright on 09/03/23 16:08

The Board of directors is a crucial element for any organisation. They are a key and necessary part of managing an organisation efficiently and ensuring the needs of both the organisation and its stakeholders are met.

Topics: Governance Executive Committee Business Insights
5 min read

What Is A Board Resolution?

By Lottie Wright on 28/02/23 14:29

A Board resolution is a formal document that confirms the actions and votes taken by the Board of directors at a Board meeting. It outlines the duties of all corporate officers and the outcome of any decisions that were made. 

Topics: Governance
6 min read

What Is An Advisory Board?

By Lottie Wright on 23/02/23 16:59

An advisory Board is a group of expert individuals who offer advice to the management of an organisation. 

Advisory Boards are an advantage to businesses, as they offer more freedom in terms of administration and oversight than a Board of directors

Topics: Governance Business Insights
6 min read

Why Use A Board Portal?

By Lottie Wright on 20/02/23 11:00

Businesses are transitioning away from manual, paper-based procedures and towards digital solutions for their Board processes. This shift has demonstrated many benefits, such as improved communication, streamlined operations, cost savings, and heightened security.

Topics: Governance Board Portal Features Why Convene?
5 min read

What Is A Board Portal?

By Lottie Wright on 17/02/23 16:02

A Board portal is a solution for running seamless meetings in the digital age. Board portals enable digital Board meetings between Boards of directors. 

Topics: Governance Board Portal Features
4 min read

How Can Convene Improve Your Housing Governance?

By Gabriella Mangham on 13/02/23 17:07

Convene is the leading Board Portal provider to the Housing Sector. Read on to find out why.

Topics: Governance Housing
7 min read

5 Top Tips For Effective Board Reports

By Lottie Wright on 09/02/23 16:35

With more and more organisations transitioning into remote and online meetings, traditional in-person Board meetings are becoming a thing of the past. 

In order to maintain order within your organisation, effective Board reports are key to keeping things running smoothly. 


What Is A Board Report?

A Board report is information from several departments or committees condensed into a short and readable format. These reports are kept as records and are a part of the Board meeting minutes. These reports are useful as they document the actions of the Board and so can be called upon at any time, especially if there are any legal issues. 

Board reports should be reviewed by every member of the Board of directors and it should be made sure that the details of the report remain intact.

Board reports are usually prepared by the executive committees, as the organisation's executive branch reports to the Board.


What Is The Purpose Of A Board Report?

A Board report can serve a lot of different purposes. It can be used for setting milestones in fundraising or for financial reporting. 

They are useful tools for bringing Board Members up to speed, reminding said members of the commitments they have made to the organisation and creating a space for discussions and questions to be initiated. 

It condenses the information from committees reporting on their tasks and the executive director’s report on the performance of the entire company into a single, easy to digest document. This is then sent to the Board and presented during the Board meeting.

Board reports are crucial documents for every organisation. Knowing how to effectively communicate your organisation's performance, processes, activities, and direction is an important part of good governance

It informs the Board about company performance, what’s happened since the last meeting, and where the organisation is headed. They can really help in establishing the big picture for an organisation.

Here’s our Top Tips for ensuring your Board reports do their job:

Topics: Governance Executive Committee Business Insights
3 min read

Convene at the 2023 Board Excellence in Housing Conference

By Lottie Wright on 03/02/23 15:30

Over the 2nd and 3rd of February 2023, Convene sponsored the NHF’s Board Excellence in Housing Conference. We want to thank all of the speakers and attendees for their engagement, as well as the NHF for putting on a fantastic conference.

This year, the conference was an online event. As a Board Portal, we were especially excited to be involved, as we are dedicated to pioneering virtual collaboration and communication. 

NHF’s online platform allowed us to participate in a number of informative talks and workshops on topics surrounding Board effectiveness and housing.

A central theme of this conference was flexibility, and the need for housing associations to be open to change due to the uncertainty of this year’s financial landscape.

Speakers were focused on exploring the challenging road ahead, and preparing associations for mitigating this unsteady future, with rising rates of inflation and the cost of living crisis within the housing sector.

Another key theme of this conference was sustainability and monitoring decarbonisation practices for housing associations.

Convene’s Associate Consultant Arturo Dell spoke about the Sustainability Reporting Standard (SRS) and the challenge of reaching decarbonisation targets with the current speed of progress within the sector.

He spoke about Convene ESG, and the importance of data integrity and quality for housing associations to manage their sustainability.

With Convene ESG, the aim is to alleviate some of the challenges of ESG data gathering, performance tracking, and reporting for ESG factors so organisations can move towards global sustainability and net zero.

Arturo expressed the importance of associations and organisations embedding ESG principles into the fabric of the organisation, and this links to another vital theme of the conference which was a focus on inclusivity and diversity

The NHF launched their Roadmap to Equality: an Inclusive Future resources, and alongside this was a series of talks about the importance of diversity and inclusion, especially for housing associations that work so closely with a diverse range of people. 

Speakers highlighted how crucial it is that Boards reflect the communities they serve, and how there is still a lot of key work to be done to improve diversity, equality and inclusion at every level of organisations.

This tied into the conference’s overall emphasis on a need for both change and changeability for housing associations.


Here at Convene, we want to make sure you have software you can rely on, even in uncertain times. 

As the leading Board Portal Provider for the Housing sector, the future of the industry is extremely important to us. We want to help pioneer flexible, sustainable and accessible communication for your housing association.

Convene is an all-in-one Board Portal designed to streamline meetings, and it is now fully integrated with Microsoft Teams, so you can have your workflow all in one place.

We also feature Convene ESG, our own ESG reporting tool, to help your organisation get one step closer to Board excellence.

To find out more about how Convene can help your organisation, you can contact us or book a demo today. Or read our success stories from your peers here. 

Topics: Governance Housing
7 min read

How To Foster Board Diversity

By Lottie Wright on 12/01/23 17:01

Board diversity and fostering inclusive and accessible work environments has been in the spotlight in recent years, not only because of the bottom-line benefits but because improving diversity is the right thing to do. 

Topics: Governance Community Business Insights

Subscribe to the Convene blog to get regular tips and updates on Governance and Digital Transformation!