CNPL BoardPulse2.0​

As a general guide, we recommend charities to submit their request for the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 self-assessment about 1 month before the expected date to review the BoardPulse2.0 report. This 1-month duration will provide sufficient time for all your board members to complete the survey and includes 5 working days for NVPC to generate and send the report to you upon receiving at least 80% completion from your board. 

Hence, depending on when you would like to receive the BoardPulse2.0 report, a charity staff that works closely with the board (e.g., board secretary, corporate governance personnel, etc.) should submit your request through this form one month prior.  

Once the request has been verified by NVPC (typically 1-2 working days), the survey link for dissemination to your board members to complete the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 self-assessment will be sent to the charity staff.

There are no strict eligibility requirements to take the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 self-assessment. However, we recommend that board members have some prior experience working with fellow board members before undertaking the assessment to ensure a fair and representative evaluation of their interactions. Examples of relevant experience include attending board or committee meetings, and participating in group discussions or decision-making processes.

The process from registration to receiving your CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report has been designed to be as straightforward as possible. From our experience, the step that takes the longest is the collection of completed individual survey responses from board members.

To facilitate this, we have ensured that the survey can be completed within 20 minutes online using mobile devices. Charities can consider leveraging board meetings to further facilitate the completion of this step. 

Charities have the flexibility to set a deadline for survey completion (up to 3 months from the date of request for the BoardPulse2.0 assessment). Upon closing of the survey and achieving at least 80% response rate, NVPC will generate and provide the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report within 5 working days.

The appointed coordinator should be a charity staff that works closely with the board (e.g., board secretary, corporate governance personnel, etc.).  

The role of the coordinator is to (i) submit the request for utilisation of CNPL BoardPulse2.0, (ii) disseminate the survey link to board members and encourage completion, and (iii) receive your charity’s CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report via email after survey completion. 

The coordinator may reach out to NVPC via [email protected] to check on the status of completion during the survey period. Please note that as the survey is anonymous and does not collect any personal identifiers (e.g., name, contact number, email), NVPC is unable to identify the board members who have completed the survey. 

The CNPL BoardPulse2.0 self-assessment survey is managed by your charity’s appointed coordinator. If you encounter any issues submitting your response (e.g., invalid survey link, survey closed), please reach out directly to your charity’s coordinator for assistance.

The results in each CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report are computed using the Charity Board Performance Framework and survey responses from individual board members. As such, the report provides an evidence-informed indication of the board’s performance based on the board’s self-reported behavioural characteristics, rather than an objective measurement of hard outcomes. The report should be used as a starting point to drive discussion rather than an “examination” that the charity needs to excel in.

No, the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 is a self-assessment tool that computes performance scores based on responses from board members and the Charity Board Performance Framework developed from the Charity Board Leadership Study 2025. The report reflects the board’s internal view; it does not take into account outside-in perspectives and should not be read as a 360° report.

No, your charity’s CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report is shared only with the charity’s appointed coordinator for dissemination to the board. Sharing the report with sector administrators, regulators and others is at the charity’s discretion.

No, to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the self-assessment process, the raw survey responses will not be shared with the charities. Each CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report presents aggregated analysis and findings on a charity board’s performance as a whole through the Charity Board Performance Framework as a starting point for meaningful conversations about board performance enhancement. The technical details of the method can be found in the CBLS 2025 findings report.

No, your charity is not required to submit your action planning report. The CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report is provided for your charity’s own use and the board should decide on its application in alignment with the board’s ambition.

GEC Code 2.2 states: ‘The Board and Management should be inducted and undergo training, where necessary, and their performance reviewed regularly to ensure their effectiveness.’ The Office of the Commissioner of Charities has reviewed the CNPL BoardPulse2.0 report and confirmed that it serves as one of the tools that charities can use to evaluate their board’s performance and hence partially fulfils the requirement of Code 2.2.

The expertise benchmarks may appear low because board members’ expertise is typically distributed across many different domains rather than concentrated in the same few areas. In the assessment, each board member identifies up to five areas where they contribute most strongly. As board members usually bring different strengths, the pattern of responses is spread across multiple expertise traits, which results in lower scores for any single expertise area. This does not necessarily indicate weak expertise, but rather a more differentiated distribution of expertise across the board.