Who am I accountable to when I’m on my donor journey?

When they give money away, people often feel they are only accountable to themselves. However, when you step into philanthropy, you are stepping into the public realm. You are making choices that affect people’s lives and the places they live. It is important you consider how to demonstrate accountability for those decisions.

The principles of accountability that operate in other spheres of the public and private sector are also relevant to philanthropy:

Governance
While giving is voluntary and made from private resources, the outcomes are in the public sphere. You should consider what is an appropriate level of governance for the gifts you are making.
Transparency
Transparency is the consequence of accountability. You should consider the extent to which you can be transparent about your giving, taking your personal circumstances into account.
Inclusivity
You should seek to include the perspectives of those impacted by your giving to ensure you’re meeting the real needs of the communities you aim to serve.
Sustainability
Everyone has finite resources, and you must be mindful of the long-term needs of those you support. What can you do to ensure the outcomes that have been made can be sustained when the time comes for you to stop funding?

Naturally, the focus of most philanthropists (like most charities) will be to prioritise getting their funding to the frontline organisations where it can do most good. But implementing an appropriate level of governance and best practice, relative to the type and amount of funding that you can provide, will help to ensure you meet the goal of doing good, well.

The Association for Charitable Foundations, which is a collaboration of funders in the UK created the Stronger Foundations platform which identifies ’40 Pillars of Stronger Foundations Practice’. This is an informative resource for mid to large-scale funders who are ambitious and want to strengthen the frameworks and impact of their giving.

Their ’10 Pillars of Stronger Practice for Smaller Foundations’ is also very useful.

Continuing your donor journey