June, 2004 -by Peter C. Brinckerhoff

This Month's topic: Transparency

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Websites of the Month

This section includes websites of interest on this month's topic. I urge you to give each a look, as they often cover different areas or have a different focus on the topic area..

Helpful Websites for Organizational Transparency
www.guidestar.org/	The grand-daddy of all the online accountability sites. See how your information is being presented!
www.transparencyday.com/	The home page of National Transparency Day, a project of Wall Watchers.
www.imanet.org/ima/docs/1300/1261.pdf	Interesting article from Management Accounting Quarterly on Improving Nonprofit Transparency. In .PDF form.
www.ccp.ca/bulletins/rb95.htm	Very good article from the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy

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Does Transparency Matter?

I've been increasingly concerned with the issue of transparency in not-for-profit organizations for some time. Readers may remember a series that I did on this subject about 15 months ago. The field has progressed since then, and transparency is even more important now than in early 2003. It does matter. Let me take this space to work through the management issues for you. (I've included a link to my 2003 columns directly below this).

Good or bad? Transparency is both. It is a wonderful way of holding ourselves accountable, being more accessible to our communities, including our staff, board, end users, and funders. But it also can result in unfair or unreasonable criticism, snooping (as opposed to reasonable inquiry), and management falling into an emphasis on spin-control rather than mission-production.
Good or bad, though, transparency is. Your organization's 990's are online on a number of websites right now, and those forms are being interpreted in good and bad ways, in fair and unfair ways, by both the websites and their readers.

Here are some things to consider as you re-examine your transparency:

Confidentiality/safety: This not only has to do with HIPAA rules (which are very important to follow) for those of you who work in human services, but also staff and board confidentiality. I saw a website recently where all staff and board pictures, home addresses and phone numbers were posted on their public website. This was done in an effort to be fully open, but since the organization dealt with difficult child welfare issues, it resulted in a great deal of harassment of both staff and board. Be open, but be smart. Board and staff info can be provided in a section of your website that is designed only for staff and only for board, and that is appropriately passworded.
Get your information out first, and get it out fully. Since your information is online anyway (see the sites listed above), usually with no opportunity for you to add a comment or two, my suggestion is to put your 990 (and 990T if you file it) online in PDF form, along with a year-to-year commentary. Turn the transparency need into a marketing asset, by making the disclosure into an annual report that talks more fully about overhead percentage (a key concern of most online oversight organizations) as well as mission-accomplishments. A good example of this is at the National Council of Nonprofit Association (NCNA) website. Take a look. http://www.ncna.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=28

Like any other change in the environment, transparency demands are here to stay. The management issue for you to consider is how to turn this change into a benefit for your organization. Remember, the idea that openness is a good thing has to start with the management team. If you operate in a culture of minimal disclosure: to your board, your staff, your funders, or your constituency, you will not adapt to this environmental demand.

For more on this, see a reprint of my earlier series on transparency at: http://www.missionbased.com/ideas/management.htm#transparent

If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com. Check them out--they're free.

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Here are my recommendations for your review in the area of online marketing. There are literally dozens of of good titles, some general, some very, very focused. After you look at these, type in "nonprofit marketing" into the Amazon search block on the left, and you will see what I mean about wonderful choices!

My top recommendations in Transparency are shown below. You will note that all three are intended for the for-profit sector. What scares me a bit is that there is not nonprofit focused book on this subject. But the ideas in all three of these books can apply to you. Just replace the term "shareholders" with "stakeholders" and the rest will come easily. One note: "Open Book Management" (the far left selection below) is one of my all time business book favorites.

If you want more information on these recommendations, click on the cover image and you will go the page about the book on Amazon.com. There, you can look at more info about the book, and read some reviews before you decide whether or not to purchase or look for this book at your local library.

Note: If you want more recommendations on publications in a wide variety of areas, including nonprofit marketing, go to the publications section of my website: www.missionbased.com/publications.htm

Again, If you don't find enough choices there, type "nonprofit transparency " in the Amazon.com search box on the left hand side of the page and you'll have more choices than you probably want!

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Here are some ideas for you as you try to wrestle with all the issues that are incumbent in improving your organizational transparency.

Your Website: While the most important place for transparency is in your attitude (see my management tip above) the best place to realize organizational transparency is on your website. Here, you can include financial information, a copy of your most recent IRS 990 report with commentary, minutes of board meetings, and stories about your success.

Remember that staff and board transparency (letting your staff and board see lots of information) should include passwords so that some information is kept within the appropriate scope.

Software:Software for transparency? You probably already own it. It's called your word processing and financial software. Use both of these tools to supply information and reports to more people inside and outside your organization. If you are going to post minutes, reports, and the like online, you probably will want to get a copy of Adobe Acrobat, so that you can turn documents into the nearly universal .PDF format.www.adobe.com (HINT: If you don't already have it, get the free Acrobat reader at the Adobe site. It's a necessary utility if you are online much at all.)

SOFTWARE LISTING

Here is a great list of all kinds of nonprofit software--including marketing and fund-raising.

www.nonprofitexpert.com/nonprofit_software.htm

If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com. Check them out--they're free.

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Below you'll see the date, location, and topics of training I'm scheduled to do in the next few weeks. For more information on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact person listed in the right hand column, or email me.

For more information on my availability throughout the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and fees go to www.missionbased.com/training.htm

Date	City	Topic	Contact
6/3-4/04	Lancaster, PA	Faith-Based Management	Mennonite Central Committee Barb Schrag Barb_K_Schrag@mcc.org
7/20/04	Chicago	The Mission-Based Board Member	Ann Cohn Donnelly a-donnelly@kellogg.northwestern.edu www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/nonprofitexeced
7/26-27/04	Charlotte	Business Development	NISH Deborah Atkinson datkinson@nish.org

Marketing your organization using transparency

People who want to know about your organization, want to know. Now. They want to see things out in the open. Any hint of hiding something, harboring information, or holding back will send potential donors, volunteers, funders running out the door, and the press and regulators running in the door (and peeking in the window). Remember, those donors, volunteers, and funders have other organizations that they can help. They don't have to only focus on your organization.

As you think about your marketing efforts, remember to make peter@missionbased.com your baseline. How you implement that openness (in your marketing materials, your presentations, your website) will use your marketing skills. But the worst thing you can do is give the appearance of having things to hide, or not being as open as your competitors.

If you want to see more about this in detail, take a look at more about my book Mission-Based Marketing; Second Edition

If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com. Check them out--they're free.

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Future Topics in 2004 for the Mission-Based Management Newsletter....

July	Start-up
August	Governance
September	Political Activities
October	Increasing Involvement of Younger Staff, Board, and Volunteers
November	Outcome Measurement
December	Life-Long Learning
Send me your topic suggestions at peter@missionbased.com

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