Certe — Governance Assured

Good governance,
run on goodwill.

Today
📊 Risk_Register_FINAL_v7.xlsx — the treasurer's 📄 BCP_2019_DRAFT.docx — a former manager's laptop ✉️ RE: RE: FW: board papers — Sue's comments attached 📁 Grant acquittal — evidence?? 📊 Audit_actions_from_minutes.xlsx
the board pack: evenings of chasing, pasting and PDF-ing. Unpaid.
One system
Risk · Actions · Delegations · Continuity
One collaborative home, always current
↓
Board pack
Board-ready PDF — at the touch of a button
Next month it starts again. Goodwill is not a system.
Certe
01
The gap

Accountable like a company.
Resourced by volunteers.

  • Governance Standard 5 requires your charity to take reasonable steps to ensure its Responsible People meet their duties — including care and diligence.
  • Funders increasingly ask for evidence of governance — before they grant, and when you acquit.
  • Your “risk team” is a part-time CEO and a volunteer treasurer.
accountability obligation → internal governance capacity → community services charities health & disability NFPs aged care & home support sporting clubs & associations arts organisations foundations & trusts where enterprise GRC tools are aimed
ACNC Governance Standards apply to registered charities; analogous accountability — incorporated-associations law, funder and grant conditions — applies across the wider NFP sector.
✓ verified 15 Jul 2026 — Governance Standard 5: reg 45.25, ACNC Regulations 2022
ACNC Governance Standards — incl. Standard 5, duties of Responsible People Annual Information Statement to the ACNC, each reporting year Grant acquittal & funder assurance expectations
Certe
02
The map

Four questions. Every board.
Every meeting.

  • What are our risks?
  • Are the actions we're counting on getting done?
  • Who can approve what?
  • Are we ready for a disruption?
One module per question. One system, four questions — and one report your board, your auditor and your funders all trust.
Certe dashboard crop — document-type tab strip and the first document tiles
What are our risks?RISK
Are the actions getting done?ACTIONS
Who can approve what?DELEGATIONS
Are we ready for disruption?CONTINUITY
Dashboard & Board Reporting
Certe
03
Q1
Q1 · What are our risks?

Not just what could hurt you — what you're doing about it.

  • A living risk register, not a spreadsheet dusted off before the AGM.
  • Every risk rated twice: inherent, then residual after controls.
  • Controls typed and rated for effectiveness — a self-assessment your board can see and challenge.
Evidence, not spreadsheets.
Certe risk chart crop — category columns of layered risk cards, back layer inherent and front layer residual
back layer = inherent ·
front = residual — the step-down after controls
Certe risk register crop — owner and lifecycle status with four-segment indicators
The register tracks a 4-stage lifecycle on every risk — Identified → Analysed → Evaluated → Treated — with an owner and status at a glance.
Certe
04
Q2
Q2 · Are the actions getting done?

Nothing the board counts on gets lost.

  • Every action from the audit, the funder review, the accreditation visit and the board meeting — one running inventory.
  • Owner, due date, revised due date. Slippage is visible, not buried in the minutes.
  • Completion bars at a glance; update it in the meeting itself.
  • No status paper to prepare. No volunteer weekend lost to it.
Certe actions crop — source group header with its first topic and action row: due date, priority and responsible
Certe actions crop — a row with an original and a revised due date
slippage on the record —
due 15/08 · revised 12/09
Certe
05
Q3
Q3 · Who can approve what?

Authority on the record — not in whoever's been here longest.

  • A searchable delegations manual — not folklore, not a policy nobody opens.
  • Clear dollar ladders by role — clear lines of authority over donor and grant money.
  • Pivot by authority: everything reserved for the board, on one page. New directors up to speed in minutes.
  • When the one organised person leaves, the knowledge stays.
Three views: Main · Category · Authorities — pivot by role
Certe delegations manual crop — Main, Category and Authorities view tabs
Certe delegations crop — graduated authorised-value ladder by role up to Board
a graduated ladder on every item —
role by role, up to Board (sample data)
Certe
06
Q4
Q4 · Are we ready for disruption?

A live continuity system, not scattered plans on paper.

  • A plan you can act on in minutes.
  • Every critical service: who's responsible, how long the people you serve can go without it, what to do, who to call.
  • One-click action plans — in the cloud, for when your office, phones or systems are down.
  • Share the live plan read-only with a funder or your council emergency contact — a revocable link, restricted to their email domain.
Certe continuity plan crop — Main, Visual and Contacts view tabs
Certe continuity visual view crop — colour-coded critical-function cards with responsible, impact and MAO
every card: responsible · impact · MAO —
how long the people you serve can go without it
Telstra — 8 July 2026 Optus — 2023 every flood & fire season A plan you can't access or action in minutes isn't a plan.
Certe
07
✦ AI-assisted drafting

AI does the heavy lifting.
A person signs off.

  • Answer a short profile of your organisation; AI drafts your services, critical functions and recovery narratives.
  • A working continuity draft in hours of staff and volunteer time — not weeks.
  • Every suggestion is reviewed, edited or rejected by your people before it's saved. Nothing is committed unreviewed.
  • One organisation-wide AI switch, controlled by you. Off means off.
  • All Certe AI is in-house and on-prem — Certe's own models on Certe's own infrastructure. No third-party AI services.*
Available in Continuity today; extending across modules is on the roadmap.
organisation-level AI on/off — when disabled, AI is blocked at the server
Certe Create with AI wizard — step 2 of 3, accept or edit suggestions with include/exclude checkboxes
step 2 of 3 — accept or edit every suggestion before it lands (sample data)
the one left out — unchecked,
it never enters the plan
* On-premises deployment of Certe — including its AI services — is available for client organisations.
Certe
08
One platform

One place, the whole picture — built for a volunteer board.

  • Risk, actions, delegations, continuity — every document on one home screen.
  • Directors join as viewers: the live picture before the meeting, no attachments.
  • Update it in the meeting itself. No more version seven of anything.
  • New board members inherit the system, not a filing cabinet.
Certe dashboard crop — document tiles across the four document types with shared-user avatars
shared with the board —
viewer access per director
Any governance document
C V V
Collaborator — can edit Viewer — can view
Per-document access, down to individual directors.
Certe
09
The payoff

Reports your board — and your funders — can rely on.

  • Branded board packs generated straight from live data — covers, titles, dated.
  • Named snapshots freeze the record: “Q2 2026 Board Meeting — 30 June 2026.”1
  • Point-in-time evidence for your audit, your ACNC obligations and your grant acquittals.
Certe version history crop — a named board-meeting snapshot with date and saved-by attribution
↳ report generated from the June snapshot
¹ Data is retained as per Australian cybersecurity standards and remains available for ejection or export at the organisation's request — including after the subscription ends.
Certe board report — branded gradient cover and risk register page with inherent and residual ratings
Brightwattle Foundation — fictional demonstration dataset
Certe
10
Affordability & adoption

Priced for a charity budget.
Running in weeks.

Affordable subscription, sized for small organisations — month by month, no implementation project. Current pricing: certe.net.au/pricing1
◆

Pedigree

Designed on 35+ years of governance consulting — watching charity boards struggle with exactly this.

▤

Methodology

Step-by-step risk process, recognised continuity concepts — consistent with ACNC governance expectations. [TODO 13: “maps to” only once the Certe ↔ ACNC mapping exists]

⬢

Security2

Organisation-enforced MFA with lockout; per-document Viewer/Collaborator permissions; token-gated, revocable external shares.

✦

Human-reviewed AI

AI always human-reviewed, with an organisation-level off switch. All AI in-house and on-prem.*

1

Demo with a charity starter template

Register categories, a continuity outline, a delegations ladder — pre-loaded.

2

Populate with your data

Your risks, your actions, your delegations — populate, don't build.

3

Board pack from month one

Your first board-ready pack in your first month.

* On-premises deployment of Certe — including its AI services — is available for client organisations.  ¹ Enterprise pricing options are available, with special exceptions for small organisations, charities and not-for-profits.  ² Hosted on AWS in Sydney (ap-southeast-2) — encryption at rest, daily encrypted backups, and high availability with replication across data centres. Cybersecurity and technical disclosure available upon request — or visit certe.net.au. Guest links apply to continuity plans; other documents are shared by inviting read-only viewers.
Certe
11
The idea — two paths

Four questions. Answered.

Your charity

One platform, pre-loadable with a charity starter register and continuity outline — governance your board can run, and your funders can see.

Your association or peak body

One relationship, many members.

30-minute member webinar → 90-day pilot — 2–3 member organisations → sector standard edition — procured together
shaped with your association, under a group arrangement — a common template raises the floor for everyone.
What are our risks?RISK
✓ ANSWERED
Are the actions getting done?ACTIONS
✓ ANSWERED
Who can approve what?DELEGATIONS
✓ ANSWERED
Are we ready for disruption?CONTINUITY
✓ ANSWERED
Risk
Actions
Continuity
Certe
12
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Speaker notes