Dóchas Members Handbook
Governance and team
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Dóchas is guided by the Dóchas Charter and Constitution (see also Key Documents section of this Handbook). The Network is governed by its members, through the AGM, which elects a Board to oversee the organisation on behalf of its members. Further details on the Governance Structure are outlined in the Dóchas Governance Manual.
Board
Dóchas is governed by a Board elected from among the Full Members. It oversees strategy, compliance, and fiduciary responsibilities, and is composed of a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine Directors. The Board can co-opt up to three External Directors, who are not associated with any member organisation. To be selected, External Directors need the support of the majority (75%) of members at an AGM.
Board members are elected to serve for a term of three years, at the end of which they will be deemed to have retired. They can serve up to three terms of three years as Director.
Member organisations will be notified of Board vacancies approximately three months in advance of the AGM. A Full Member can nominate anyone within their organisation, with the required skills, to stand for election to the Board.
See the current Dóchas Board here.
Board Committees
To support its governance and strategic oversight, the Dóchas Board has established three committees:
- Finance, Audit & Risk Committee
- Governance Committee
- HR & Remuneration Committee
Secretariat - The Dóchas Team
The Dóchas membership and Board are supported by the Secretariat, a small, dynamic team who bring a diverse range of skills and knowledge to the organisation. The team works to develop and implement Dóchas’ Strategy and promote the work of the Network. It implements strategic goals, promotes collaboration, coordinates member engagement, organises events and communications, and manages external relations and advocacy.
Find out more about our team here.
Data Protection
Dóchas complies with the requirements of relevant Irish legislation, including the Data Protection Act (1988), the Data Protection (Amendment) Act (2003), the Data Protection Act (2018) and the General Data Protection Regulation (2018). The Dóchas Data Protection Policy applies to all Personal Data collected, processed and stored by Dóchas in relation to its employees, service providers, members and others (e.g. event participants) in the course of its activities. Dóchas makes no distinction between the rights of Data Subjects who are employees and those who are not. Dóchas will never share member or personal data with third parties for their own marketing or other purposes, though they may share data if legally required, to complete a service requested by the user, or with trusted service providers who are bound by confidentiality agreements. For a full Data Protection Statement see here.