Civil Society Organization governance: More than just a board matter

Abstract

International audience

This paper explores the respective roles of the board and the General Assembly in the governance process of civil society organisations. Based on a quantitative survey of 715 French CSOs, the authors propose a typology of CSO governance styles that reflects a broad view of governance. The results show that next to the conventional board-based governance style, other styles exist: control-based governance, participative governance, General Assembly-based governance. The research confirms the importance of the General Assembly in CSO governance and suggests that the different governance bodies can specialise in different roles.