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.
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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.
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.
Plan International has appointed Siemens IT Solutions to implement a new global management system to improve accountability.
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.
Children's charity Global Care has launched a charity giving website, Pick the Bucket, which allows users to choose which projects go ahead.
With technology driving ever more leaks of sensitive information, charities should prepare to reveal all from the outset, says John Tate.
Charities are being urged to submit ideas for how they could make use of government data, with up to £50,000 available for the development of the winning proposal.
A new website has been launched which is attempting to make the Charity Commission’s register of charities available in a clearer and more accessible way.
Smaller charities were praised for their constant innovation in presenting their accounts on the web, at this year’s ICAEW’s online accounts awards ceremony last week.
Guidestar International is to combine its operations with US non-profit technology organisation TechSoup Global, though the two have stopped short of a full merger.
Google’s decision to stop censoring search results in China is a backward step, say John Tate.
The future for charities is “warfare” unless they can get to grips with the people issues related to IT, according to the CFDG’s special IT adviser John Tate.
Guidestar UK and Civil Society Systems have announced they will merge to become GuideStar International, following a £3m grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
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