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.
As the government launched its consultation on the proposed Register of Lobbyists on Friday, the National Council of Voluntary Organisations warned that “smaller organisations should not be dissuaded from engaging with the political system”.
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 Fundraising Standards Board website will indicate which charities have not shared their complaints data in this year’s annual fundraising complaints survey.
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.
A British initiative has come second in a league table of international aid schemes which aims to find the best opportunities for donors to accomplish good with their donation.
How to comply with the Bribery Act
The Bribery Act is now in force Sarah Rowley outlines how to avoid its pitfalls.
Charities need to understand how they appear in Google to maintain public trust in their organisation, according to Richard Sambrook, global vice-chairman of PR agency Edelman.
Music charity Rhythmix is seeking legal counsel as a new girl band competing on ITV reality TV show The X Factor is using the same name.
OSCR has successfully challenged a Freedom of Information request from Dunnet Head Education Trust to see letters from people complaining about its plans to reorganise the charity.
Following the recent resignation of Oxfam's Haiti director following staff misconduct, Andrew Chaggar discusses standards and accountability for international aid organisations.
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.
Two trustees have hit out at plans for over half of the Shetland Charitable Trust's board to be selected by fellow trustees rather than publicly-elected, arguing that it doesn’t need “experts in accountancy or the finer points of law”.
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.
Acevo has guaranteed its commitment to the sustainability of the Impact Coalition and promised to allocate time to pursuing its objectives from within its policy and communications teams once a new strategy is set.
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.
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.
Ex gratia payments (financial aspects)
Having decided that an ex gradia payment is needed, how do trustees treat the payment in accounts and the charity's annual report?
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.
