Part of the requirements of becoming a charity are that you must produce accessible information about your work that is relevant to the public’s needs. The Charity Commission interprets transparency and accountability as “providing relevant and reliable information to stakeholders in a way that is free from bias, comparable, understandable and focused on stakeholders’ legitimate needs”.
In 2002, the government Strategy Unit wrote that “Easy access to accurate and relevant information about charities is essential for real accountability, and for trust and confidence in charities.”
In recent years, several organisations have sprung up to try to improve charities’ record on accountability and transparency, such as GuideStar, New Philanthropy Capital, charityfacts.org and the Impact Coalition (now part of Acevo). In October 2008 the Charity Commission launched a new online register that allows the public to view charities’ accounts.
The amount of information that is now made accessible to the public by the internet is forcing organisations to be more transparent.
The Department for International Development must help foundations to improve transparency and pre-empt legal enforcement of reporting, according to a parliamentary report on DfID’s relationship with foundations.
London-based community development charity Cambridge House has taken possession of the electronic data of 48 clients of the wound-up outsourcing company Charity Business.
One of the owners of Charity Business, the outsourcing agency that collapsed this week, is also the general manager of a benevolent charity that is one of Charity Business’s biggest clients.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has attacked the British Council for spending a total of £6.7m on its credit cards over the past two years, including £2m on hotel bills and £1m on flights.
The Charity Commission intends to focus most of its attention over the next three years on its objectives relating to accountability and compliance, according to its new strategic plan.
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The Bribery Act is now in force Sarah Rowley outlines how to avoid its pitfalls.
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The public give trusted organisations more latitude when things go wrong, asserts Richard Sambrook.
Embracing ethics
Paul Palmer analyses how charities can build brands that continue to enjoy public support.
Sir Stephen Bubb has said he is hopeful that an ongoing governance review of NHS charities could ensure that their funds will not be included on NHS balance sheets after all.
Mike Weaver, the ex-treasurer at Citizens Advice, has admitted that he resigned after just two months because he did not agree with the way the charity treats its pension liability in its accounts.
The Charity Commission has backed away from its proposal to devise a standard way for charities to report their admin costs after feedback from the sector revealed "concerns" about the idea.
Tania Mason says the regulator is sending mixed messages about who it is there for.
Questions have again been raised about the independence of the New Schools Network, after a leaked email showed that civil servants had been pressured to fast-track a grant to the charity by government advisers.
How financial clarity can boost funding
Paul Sparkes outlines how using software to ensure transparent financial accounting can help drive a strategy for increasing donations.
The Poetry Society has published the full details of the internal dispute which has prompted the Arts Council to threaten to withhold its funding until the Society gets its house back in order.
Charities that work overseas in areas where it is accepted practice to make “facilitation payments” in order to speed up a service must be aware that doing so could see them fall foul of the new Bribery Act, the Charity Commission has warned.
The Fire Fighters Charity has finally appointed a new chief executive to succeed Jan Barlow, the previous incumbent who left without explanation in November last year after just nine months in post.
An NCVO working group has called on the Charity Commission and HMRC to improve information sharing, and to consult with the sector on proposed regulatory changes which aim to reduce fraud in the sector, in a new report on managing risk.
The Charity Commission has said it will consult the sector before devising its “good-enough” index of admin costs.
Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission, has called for the late filing of documents with the Commission to become the sector equivalent of drink driving.
An Oxford charity is threatening to take the county council to the Local Government Ombudsman because of the way its tendering process for a contract to provide support to adult carers was carried out.
Acceptance is growing of the idea of comparisons between organisations in the sector, says Tania Mason.
Charity Commission chair Dame Suzi Leather has suggested that the regulator might look at introducing a Facebook-style application that tells charities what other charities exist nearby that carry out similar activities.
The Charity Commission must not be put off from trying to create a standard format by which charities can report their spending by the complexity of the task, a charity chief executive told the Commission’s chair and CEO last week.
Finding a fair way to report how much of each pound donated to charity is spent on the cause is the “holy grail of charity information” and a task the Charity Commission and the sector ought to attempt, Commission chair Dame Suzi Leather said yesterday.
Research published yesterday by nfpSynergy demonstrates the extent to which the public’s perception of charities is divorced from the reality.
HM Revenue and Customs has revealed that it has had no complaints about the fit and proper persons test since it was introduced a year ago.
The Court of Appeal has ordered judges to reconsider whether the Charity Commission should be forced to disclose the case files on its statutory inquiry into George Galloway’s Mariam Appeal.
Members of the Church Investors Group will attend BP’s annual general meeting this week to express their ongoing concerns about the oil giant’s safety and risk management procedures.
Freedom of Information Act should extend to charities delivering public services, says Information Commissioner
Public accountability will suffer, warns Christopher Graham, unless the Freedom of Information Act is extended to charities delivering public services.
