scholarly journals Transparency as a Key Element in Accountability in Non-Profit Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Ortega-Rodríguez ◽  
Ana Licerán-Gutiérrez ◽  
Antonio Luis Moreno-Albarracín

The purpose of this article is to present a framework to understand transparency in the third sector and then to explore the main research streams regarding the disclosure of information and accountability by conducting a systematic literature review on the antecedents and dimensions of the transparency of information disclosed by non-profit organizations (NPOs). The essential questions of this work are addressed from an international perspective. In particular, we explore three research questions: (1) why should NPOs disclose transparent information to stakeholders? (2) Why do not all NPOs disclose transparent information? (3) What means do NPOs use to disclose transparent information? Our results highlight the lack of transparency legislation in the third sector, leading NPOs to adopt the voluntary disclosure of information policies to improve the perceived credibility of these entities by their stakeholders. In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of developing a systematic body of knowledge regarding the situation of transparent, voluntary information disclosure in the sector. Moreover, the Sustainable Development Goals promulgated by the United Nations place a high value on transparency for the accountability of institutions. To achieve sustainable development, both peace and the governance of institutions are needed. Reducing corruption and promoting transparency are among the goals which should be reached to achieve social sustainability.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3766
Author(s):  
Mar Ortiz-Gómez ◽  
Gabriele Giorgi ◽  
Horacio Molina-Sánchez ◽  
Antonio Ariza-Montes

Religious non-profit organizations are becoming increasingly important in the third sector in a wide range of countries, where they are currently leading players in different areas, such as education, healthcare, and social work. These organizations have the peculiarity of providing a service to their users while transmitting them the values of their mission statement. An usually employed and effective management strategy for these institutions is a servant leadership style. This article seeks to introduce a theoretical discussion of this leadership approach by providing a Spanish version of an instrument for measuring servant leadership in Spanish religious non-profit institutions. To this end, workers of different Spanish faith-based non-profit organizations of the third sector, a relatively unexplored context, were analyzed after obtaining 463 valid questionnaires. This study used the Spanish translation of a seven-item and three-factor servant leadership scale. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The results confirm that the six-item and three-factor servant leadership scale was the most effective scale to measure this construct. In conclusion, this research covers a notable research gap by providing a reliable and valid Spanish short version of the servant leadership scale for workers of Spanish religious non-profit organizations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Jarosław Domański

The Analysis and Synthesis of Strategic Management Research in the Third Sector from Early 2000 Through to Mid-2009The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contemporary literature on strategic management in non-profit organizations. The area at hand is divided into five categories: modern management and strategic management approaches/theories; analysis of the roles of externalities and internalities in the Third Sector; review of how strategic management has been applied for non-profit organizations; review of applications and enhanced identification of one or more strategies utilised by non-profit organizations; application of specific methods and tools in strategic management. Four dilemmas faced by modern management theory serve as a synthetic axis. First, how can the existing commercial management concepts and techniques be best adapted to the realities of the non-profit sector? Secondly, which of the established schools of strategic management is the most relevant one for non-profits? In fact, is it appropriate to look for a brand new school of thought? Thirdly, and this is again related to academic pursuits, what coherent theory can explain the efficiency of non-profit organizations. Fourthly, there is the dilemma what strategy to employ when faced with a choice between the willingness and the need to apply competitive strategies and the co-operative strategy in the third sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Jana Ďurkovičová

AbstractThe basic definition of the third sector comes from the sectoral division of the Slovak economy. The sectoral breakdown of the economy operates with concepts such as the public sector, the private sector, and the third sector(1). Civil society represents the third sector of society that exists alongside the state and the market. The third sector is a commonly used term for all non-governmental organizations in the Slovak Republic. Their legal form may vary. This sector is characterized by the existence of organizations that have a formal structure, non-state character, do not aim to make a profit, are independent, operate on a self-governing basis and are voluntary. The existence of non-governmental organizations and their participation in the life of society characterizes every civil society. One type of such organizations are non-profit organizations, the scope of which is regulated by the Act no. 213/1997 Coll. on Non-profit Organizations Providing Services of General Interest, as amended. They represent non-governmental non-profit organizations operating in civil society. The register of these legal entities operating in the territory of the Slovak Republic is provided by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of the existence and scope of non-profit organizations in civil society, to analyze the legal forms of their functioning, through analysis of current legislation, available literary sources with emphasis on analysis of development and employment in non-profit organizations providing public services in the territory of the Slovak Republic in the defined period from 2016 to 2018. According to the latest available data as of 31 December 2018(2), there were 66 926 non-profit organizations registered and operating in the Slovak Republic, employing an average of 39 706 employees, while there were 3 272 of non-profit organizations providing services of general interest. The system of remuneration of employees of non-profit organizations is regulated by legislation in two ways. If the non-profit organization is not established by law, municipality, higher territorial unit or state, then it is possible to apply Act no. 311/2001 Coll. Labor Code as amended. Otherwise, if the nonprofit organization is established by law, wich means that the employee performs work in accordance with the law in the public interest, the procedure for his remuneration is in accordance with the Act no. 553/2003 Coll. on Remuneration of Certain Employees in the Performance of Work in the Public Interest and on Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7275
Author(s):  
Antonio Luis Moreno-Albarracín ◽  
Ana Licerán-Gutierrez ◽  
Cristina Ortega-Rodríguez ◽  
Álvaro Labella ◽  
Rosa M. Rodríguez

One of the most complex challenges currently faced by non-profit organizations (NPOs) is demonstrating that they manage resources with the highest levels of efficiency and excellence, and do not deviate from the accomplishment of their mission. Transparency and good governance are highly valuable issues for the survival of these organizations. However, empirical studies and models to measure these concepts are scarce and lack consensus. The objective of this article is to develop a uniform procedure for measuring the levels of transparency and good governance in NPOs, validated by experts, that integrates the most important contributions. The main proposals are supported by lists of indicators whose compliance they try to verify. Finally, we considered the experts’ preferences to obtain the indicator weights by means of the Best–Worst Method and Minimum Cost Consensus model. The result of our work is the development of a list of indicators, which integrates the existing battery of Spanish indicators. We contribute, with this work, to improving the credibility of the third sector from the perspective of donors, users, public administrations, and society. This is an essential issue for the survival of these NPOs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 393-398
Author(s):  
Maxim Ponomarev ◽  
Alexander Ponomarev ◽  
Alexandra Ponomareva ◽  
Darya Yurchenko

The article proposes a number of criteria that allow the systematization of non-commercial organizations in order to reflect the essense of their economic activities. It is necessary to structure the formation, development and functioning of non-profit organizations, taking into account such characteristics as economic goals, differentiation of types of activities, property formation sources, economic and financial criteria for activity, technology, management, etc.


Author(s):  
Marina Romano

With the issuance of the Third Sector Code in our legal system, the legislator seems to have laid the foundations for the construction of a third sector law, as a sub-system compared to the group of rules that regulate both profit and non-profit pri-vate organizations. The new legislation focuses on the category of Third Sector En-tities, such as private organizations that carry out institutionally an activity of ge-neral interest aimed at civic, solidarity and socially useful purposes and which are subject to transparency, information and control obligations on the activity carried out to encourage tax breaks. The reform also contains a series of innovations that highlight the cultural change regarding the leading role of the third sector in the per-spective of sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13976
Author(s):  
Eugenio Cejudo-García ◽  
Francisco Navarro-Valverde ◽  
José Antonio Cañete-Pérez ◽  
Noelia Ruiz-Moya

Civil society plays an essential role in the development of our rural areas. In spite of this, little research has been conducted on the role of non-profit organizations, often referred to in general terms as the third sector, within the framework of the LEADER program for rural development, especially in such a large geographical area as Andalusia, the study area of this research. The diversity of the groups that make up the “Others” group of rural development stakeholders is one of its most important characteristics. Over the course of the study period (2000–2015), these organizations have played a very significant role in Andalusia in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In order to find out more about the diversity of third sector organizations and to quantify and evaluate their importance, we carried out a detailed analysis of all the LEADER projects commenced in Andalusia between 2000 and 2015. The quantitative and quantitative results obtained highlight the diversity of these projects and how widely their presence varied from one type of rural area to the next. Our research reopens the debate about the growing role played by non-profit organizations in developed societies at a global level and within LEADER in particular.


2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Fusari

Abstract This paper describes the problems that arise in the translation of texts on – and by – the nonprofit sector from English (especially American English) into Italian. First of all, we focus on the main problems of translation, deriving from the disparity between the third sector in Italy and in the US. Secondly, we present a corpus-based project aimed at monitoring the differences between nonprofit discourse (especially fundraising letters) in Italy and the US. Lastly, we show a number of practical examples to illustrate how this type of corpus can meet the needs of translators and draw some conclusions on the importance of using monitor (i.e., continuously updated) corpora to produce successful translations in specialised fields where there are sizeable differences between source and the target cultures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 04008
Author(s):  
Alexander Pyanov ◽  
Elena Drannikova ◽  
Evgeny Shevchenko ◽  
Zarema Kochkarova

This article aims at analysing the financial and organizational mechanisms of the third sector, namely the non-profit organisations (NPOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In addition, it focuses on the sustainable development of non-profit and non-governmental organizations. The paper shows that in order to achieve sustainable development and embark upon the path of the “green economy”, NPOs and NGOs need to apply effective financial and organisational mechanisms that would also coincide with their regional priorities and socio-economic objectives that would take into account the environmental specifics and priorities of the given region. The article draws various examples and case studies from various countries and regions around the world to prove its points and provide some guidelines for relevant stakeholders and regulators.


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