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Thursday Apr 20, 2006
Guidestar runs into problems
According to Professional Fundraising, more than 450 charities have questioned Guidestar about the details held about their organisations, with 150 of them querying the way their financial information has been presented.
Some charities have expressed concern that the analysis of accounts published on Guidestar differs to the analysis published by the Charity Commission for its Standard Information Return.
It's important to remember that Guidestar is a massively ambitious project - the site contains 32 million pieces of information on over 167,000 charitable organisations, so there are bound to be some teething problems as organisations and the public get used to using it.
Of course transparency and accountability is vital in the voluntary sector, but surely this should begin with clear, consistent reporting by the very bodies that give the public a window onto the how charities use the money they raise?
I sometimes think if it's this confusing when you work in the voluntary sector then what must it be like for the average donor in the street?
Posted by Sam Thomas ( 10:07 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]