#ShiftThePower – Revolutionising Transparency in the Third Sector: Driving Better Decisions, Legitimacy and Goodwill

Thu 7 October 2021

online

Criticism of the opacity of the philanthropic sector is not new. It is, however, increasingly vociferous. Perhaps catalysed by COVID19, multiple dedicated initiatives have emerged recently calling for better data disclosure and even more importantly accountability around performance. One such example is the work of Giving Evidence which will develop diversity ratings for UK charities which will also look at their transparency – i.e. how easy it is to find out what they fund and when – and their accountability practices such as whether they have a complaints process, whether they cite the basis on which they assess applications and make decisions and whether they publish any analyses of their own effectiveness. The US’s Grant Advisor platform is a positive example of how grantees can be empowered to provide feedback pushing philanthropic funders into a new level of accountability, whether they like it or not.

However, most of this work still exists only in the Global North with few equivalents in emerging markets where often philanthropic infrastructure, regulation and networks are under-developed. A new approach is therefore critical given the vast intergenerational wealth transfer expected in the coming decades, the need to ensure that the next generation learns from the past and that new innovative ways of thinking are encouraged.

Cost: Free