Governance
Nonprofit company directors and charity trustees are accountable to stakeholders rather than to owners or investors. They are responsible for governance standards - including compliance with mandatory regulation and voluntary codes - and disclosure standards. Read more about where Benefacts gets data on nonprofit directors and charity trustees.
- 86,481 people currently serve in the governance of Ireland’s 15,200 regulated nonprofits (up by 6% on the number reported in 2019). At least 4,800 of them serve on multiple boards, more than 2,000 of whom serve on the board of a company and a charity.
- 49,860 directors serve on 9,800 nonprofit company Boards, 4,880 of which are registered charities. This means there are 28,687 people who are director/trustees of incorporated charities.
- 36,619 people serve on the boards of 5,400 charities that are not incorporated.
Number of directors and trustees on nonprofit boardsSource: Benefacts
Governance profile of Irish nonprofits
While a nonprofit board typically has six members, it is slightly higher for charities (seven) than non-charities (four). These averages are unchanged since our 2019 report. The largest boards are in education and research and the smallest in philanthropy and voluntarism, environment and international. Limited governance data is available for sports and religious organisations.
Average number of nonprofit board membersSource: Benefacts
Profile of nonprofit board service
On average, nonprofit directors/trustees serve for 5 consecutive years. The longest average term of service is in local development (average 7 years) and the shortest is in education, research (average 4 years). These numbers have changed marginally since our 2019 report.
23% of the directors/charity trustees of Irish nonprofits have served for more than 9 years – considered the maximum appropriate term for good governance. This is down on the profile we reported in 2019.
The sectors with the greatest number of long-serving directors/charity trustees are Local Development & Housing, Recreation & Sports each 37%; the sector with the lowest is Education, Research at 9%
Gender balance on the boards of Irish nonprofits
Drill down menu click on a sector for a further breakdown.
Gender balance of nonprofit boards by sector
Source: Benefacts
Our analysis of the gender profile of nonprofit boards indicates men outnumber women, with men making up 57% of nonprofit board seats. This profile is changed marginally from data published in 2019.
Age Profile
The average age of all nonprofit directors/charity trustees is 57.
Average age of nonprofit directors/charity trustees by sector
Source: Benefacts