Governance charter template
Purpose
One sentence: what goes wrong today that this body fixes.
Sponsor
Name, title, and the budget this person controls. A charter with no sponsor has no enforcement.
Decision rights
| Decision | Council decides | Council advises | Delegated to | Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Give each decision exactly one accountable party. Anything below its threshold is decided by the named delegated role, not brought to the council.
Membership
Voting (5–9):
| Role | Name | Function |
|---|---|---|
Non-voting / consulted:
| Role | Name | Function |
|---|
Intake and triage
- Request form: [link or name]
- Triage owner: [named role]
- Only exceptions, above-threshold, and high-risk items reach the meeting; everything else is decided at intake.
Enforcement
- Procurement will not buy what the council hasn't approved above threshold.
- Overlaps with other bodies (architecture review, change advisory, security/risk) settled here, in writing:
| Adjacent body | What it owns | How an item is routed there instead |
|---|
Meetings
- Frequency: [for example, monthly]
- Standing agenda: [items, in order]
- Decision log: kept by [named role], published to [location]
- Out-of-cycle path for urgent items: [description]
- The first meeting is seeded with a real, live agenda item (an open exception, a gap report, a pending request) — never convened empty.
Escalation
Where disputes go, and who breaks a tie the chair cannot resolve.
Success measures
| Measure | Baseline | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Time from request to decision | ||
| Share of software bought through the intake path | ||
| Savings | ||
| Exceptions granted |
Review date
Charter and membership reviewed by: [date, no later than 12 months from approval]
Approved by (sponsor): _______________________ Date: _______________