Power and Light: Transparency and Effectiveness in the Nonprofit and Philanthropy World. I’ve been heads down working on my next book about measurement and networked nonprofits with KD Paine and our editor, Bill Paarlberg. One of the chapters is about measuring transparency. So, when I heard that the Foundation Center and the Center for Effective Philanthropy were hosting an event “Transparency and Effectiveness,” I was curious, especially given the speakers and the framing: Foundations are pressed to be more transparent about how they work andmore effective about achieving impact. What is the link between transparency and effectiveness and can these two qualities ever be at cross purposes? Sharing information about performance assessment, diversity, compensation, strategy-all give most foundations pause.
Where do you draw the line? The discussion was not a black and white debate about the definition of transparency or whether it was good or bad. The Foundation Center hosts one of the well-known philanthropy transparency projects called Glass Pockets. 1. 2. 3. 4. Should a Nonprofit Have to Disclose Campaign Expenditures? March 20, 2011; Source: Lincoln Journal Star | Americans for Progress is a conservative 501(c)(4) that NPQ has written about regarding its significant role in promoting the national Tea Party movement. During the 2010 election, the Virginia-based AFP had advertisements sent to voters offering information about Nebraska state senator Danielle Conrad. The messages weren't complimentary to the senator, including, "Danielle Conrad has raised taxes on every family and business in Nebraska . . . Roughly 1,000 more Lincoln residents are searching for a job today than when Danielle Conrad took office.
" The Nebraska chapter of Common Cause thinks that AFP's actions against Conrad and others qualify it to disclose how much money it spent on the anti-Conrad mailings, just like the disclosure required of PACs and candidates themselves under Nebraska state law. Some Nebraska politicians believe that AFP is simply dancing around the law and its expenditures should be reported. Board's Silence has Animal Shelter Supporters Growling. February 27, 2011; Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle | The board of the Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter in Belgrade, Mont., doesn't think it’s anybody's business but its own about why it is searching for a new executive director.
Other than announcing that Tracy Weller was placed on administrative leave last fall, only to resign six weeks later, the board isn't saying a word about what lead to those actions. The wall of silence greeting people trying to find out more isn't pleasing donors who contributed $550,000 to the shelter's operation in 2009. Dian Bottcher, a long-time contributor, who stopped making donations after Weller left, is frustrated about the board's refusal to discuss her departure, how they're planning to find a new executive director, and how much, including the current search, and how much all this is costing the shelter.
International AIDS Nonprofit Hit by Financial Questions. February 1, 2011; Source: Seattle Times | As a result of questions of fraud and financial mismanagement at Health Alliance International (HAI), its budget will shrink to $7 million and it has sacked half of its Seattle staff and 9 out of 10 of its Mozambique employees. HAI had become USAID's primary organization for HIV/AIDS work in Mozambique. It grew to a budget of $21 million in 2009, employing 40 people at its Seattle headquarters and 1,000 people in Mozambique through the Ministry of Health – but those days are over. The controversy came to a head when HAI applied for a $100 million USAID grant, judged by the agency as the best technical proposal it had received – until a "tipster" reported problems in one of the organizations HAI contracted with in Mozambique. HAI is housed at the University of Washington and has functioned as a significant recipient of U.S. government-funded work for treatment of people with HIV/AIDS in Africa since its beginnings in 1987.
USAID and NGO transparency: When in doubt, hide the data. By Till Bruckner, PhD candidate at the University of Bristol and former Transparency International Georgia aid monitoring coordinator In my last blog post on this website, I claimed that some NGOs had instructed USAID to hide part or all of their project budgets in a FOIA response, and praised others for their openness. Aid Watch subsequently contacted all NGOs mentioned in the piece for comments. In its response, World Vision denied ever having asked USAID to withhold budgetary information: World Vision has checked thoroughly with all of its relevant offices and found no record of having received notification of this FOIA request by USAID or any evidence that WV asked USAID to redact information in the documents requested of USAID by Bruckner.
After contacting USAID officials, we learned that the redaction was made independently by the USAID FOIA office, not at the request of WV. Why had I pointed the finger at World Vision, rather than at USAID? This is astounding. Related posts: Finding the Right Transparency. Today, more than ever, the public and government agencies are demanding nonprofits to be transparent. But concerns about having a realistic picture of internal operations, where money is going, and the effectiveness of the programs are countered by concerns of overburdened staff, increased administrative costs, and an invitation to singled-out and damaging criticism. Transparency is not a matter of two extremes – of all or nothing – and as a result, many nonprofits continue to struggle in addressing these concerns.
When Guidestar released its report “The State of Nonprofit Transparency, 2008: Voluntary Disclosure Practices” in 2009, it suggested five simple steps for increasing transparency: However, today’s issue of transparency asks much more of nonprofits beyond legal compliance. This is not to suggest transparency is easy. Transparency does not happen overnight. Ultimately, transparency is not simply a matter of publicly releasing a box of documents or unimportant information. Ken's Commentary: Accountability & Transparency: The Long and the Short of It. Charity Navigator - Charity Navigator Expands Rating Methodology.