I regularly mention RTE when I’m supporting nonprofit Boards, specifically with regard to the lessons they might learn from the very public exposure of that Board’s poor governance. Here I’ve summarised my key six takeaways from the formal RTÉ Governance Review (as published on www.gov.ie ) and what they mean for the nonprofit sector: 

• Culture must follow structure 
  The review found that governance failures were cultural as much as structural – policies existed but a culture of informality, poor accountability and deference to strong voices meant those policies didn’t protect the organisation. This echoes a point I make consistently to Boards: governance structures are impotent without a culture that values accountability, openness and ethical behaviour (“What Crises Teaches Us About Governance”, 2into3, Nov 2025). 

• Don’t sideline risk 
  Risk management at RTÉ was described as “immature, under-resourced and hardly considered at all by the Board.” It was typically allocated ten minutes per Audit and Risk Committee meeting.  Risk must be a standing agenda item and a strategic function. 

• Don’t pay lip service to transparency
  The review highlighted that the Board’s ability to scrutinise was impeded by informal management practices, including verbal rather than written reports. As a partner of the Carmichael Good Governance Awards since 2016, 2into3 sees annually what separates organisations with strong governance from those at risk – transparency as a lived practice not just a stated value. 

• Ensure the Board has the right set of skills
  Board skills gaps were a recurring theme. RTÉ’s Board lacked accounting expertise and, for periods, general board-level experience in large organisations. The Carmichael Good Governance Awards judging criteria – transparency, governance, performance and financial information – offer a practical benchmark for nonprofits to test whether their own boards have the skills and diversity to provide genuine oversight. 

• Board-level decisions must be formally documented 
  The review found that critical decisions were made outside formal governance forums, with limited transparency even between executive colleagues. For nonprofits, particularly those with volunteer boards managing competing priorities, the discipline of formal decision-making and documented accountability is not bureaucracy, it is protection.
  
  
• Interrogate and champion demonstrable compliance
  One of the most striking findings was the gap between RTÉ’s formal attestations of compliance and its actual practices. The review did not agree with RTÉ’s annual assertions of full compliance with the State Code and for charities, this is a cautionary tale: self-assessed governance compliance can reinforce and perpetuate poor practices.  The review underscores that independent governance reviews should be normal practice, not crisis responses. The Charities Governance Code recommends external board reviews, and the Carmichael Awards actively reward organisations that demonstrate this commitment to continuous improvement, for exactly this reason, 2into3’s advisory work consistently focuses on building governance capacity incrementally, not retrofitting it after a crisis.

“Charities that rely only on internally conducted reviews run the danger of reenforcing and perpetuating poor governance” (“Is Governance Ever ‘Good Enough’?”, 2into3, April 2025). 

Whilst many may view governance as excessive paperwork and bureaucracy, I would counter, that governance is what enables and supports good decision making.  The benefits of good governance are a cohesive and well-functioning Board, accountability that engenders trust, and oversight that assures the organisation stays on mission and on budget.   

And the opportunity cost of poor governance?  Well, that can be extremely high – as RTÉ discovered.