The CBF promotes transparency, integrity, and public trust by reviewing the governance, financial management, fundraising, and spending practices of charitable organisations. We also provide information and advice to public authorities and the wider public.
When a charity has been recognised by the CBF (CBF-Erkend Goed Doel), you can trust that the organisation has been independently assessed and meets high standards for good governance, responsible fundraising, financial accountability, and proven impact.
Updated Recognition Standards – Effective 1 January 2025
From 1 January 2025, updated Recognition Standards and a new Director Remuneration Framework apply to all recognised charities. These revisions are based on a sector-wide evaluation (2021) and public consultation (2024), aimed at keeping the standards relevant, proportionate, and future-proof.
Key improvements include:
A revised classification system (Categories A to E): enabling tailored standards based on the organisation's size and complexity.
A clearer governance framework: better aligned with different board models (e.g. supervisory board or one-tier models).
A principle-based approach: moving away from checklists towards meaningful, contextual compliance.
Stronger integrity standards: including updated requirements on conflict of interest, integrity risk management, and transparency.
A new director remuneration ceiling: based on job-weighting using BSD scores × a maximum factor of 1.3.
These new standards help ensure that recognised charities continue to uphold the public’s trust while allowing room for professional judgement and diversity in how charities are organised.
Regulations and Supporting Documents
The updated Recognition Regulations, including the new standards per category, the Remuneration Framework for Directors, and the Objections and Appeals procedure, are available in English.
You can find all documents here
Note: In case of discrepancies, the original Dutch versions are leading.
Questions?
If you have any questions or would like to understand how the CBF Recognition applies to your organisation, please contact us at: erkenning@cbf.nl