Project Description
A best practice Board Charter for the Museum of Brisbane
> THE CONTEXT
Museum of Brisbane is housed in the rooftop of the city’s premier civic and heritage building, City Hall. Its mission is to be recognised as a museum of national significance that is integral to preserving Brisbane’s cultural legacy and identity by inspiring curiosity, celebrating creativity and fostering belonging. The Museum is a not-for-profit company with Brisbane City Council as sole member. The review of the Charter in 2021 was undertaken following the appointment of several new board members, and reflected the wish to ensure the Charter remained current and active.
> THE BRIEF
Board charters are becoming accepted good practice in both non-profit and commercial environments. Positive Solutions was engaged to provide a revised board charter, which focused on outlining the roles and responsibilities of the board with improved clarity. It was prepared on the basis that strong corporate governance will add to the performance of the Museum of Brisbane, and engender the confidence of the community, and the principal stakeholder, Brisbane City Council.
> THE APPROACH
Our approach took into account the interests of, and the relationships between, the board, the CEO and Brisbane City Council. We interviewed board members, including the Chair, in addition to benchmarking with similar institutions to learn from their experience. We sourced a range of board charters for comparison. The Charter included Board Purpose and Objectives, Board Structure and Processes and took into account existing Organisational Policies.
> THE RESULTS
Positive Solutions presented the Museum of Brisbane with a reviewed charter document. The Museum adopted this Charter to frame the manner in which the Board’s powers and responsibilities will be exercised and discharged. Since then, Museum of Brisbane uses and refers to the document regularly, has implemented the review processes suggested, and used it to on-board new board members.
