Non Profits Need Ethics & Transparency Too

I've posted before about transparency in government, or sometimes the lack of it. Some of this got me thinking recently about how all of this impacts the non profit world. I've worked and sat on numerous boards of non profit organizations over the years and some are certainly better than others when it comes to transparency or sharing information.

I'm aware of one large non profit that insists on an executive session at just about every meeting, shooing people from their presence to conduct major discussions and big business behind closed doors. If anyone is critical, the answer is always the same. It goes something like, "We're not covered by the Open Meetings Law, or Freedom of Information Laws." There's also usually a variation about the inability to "trust" those in the audience with information. In this particular organization, there is not even an attempt to be transparent to donors, members or other related parties. There are other organizations who try to be transparent but many times they fall back on "executive sessions" at a moments notice if some threat, real or imagined, seems afoot.

Now technically these organizations are right. They usually aren't subject to Open Meetings legislation, at least not yet. Of course probably the best way to change that is to show constituents and then government that you need to be forced to be open and therefore subject to new or existing legislation. I suspect that will happen over time. They are also technically right about FOIL requests. On the other hand most documents, financial reports, etc. that non profits provide to government agencies are accessible through a FOIL request to the particular state agency so why make it so difficult.

Now really good non profits tend to try to model their meetings and their openness on state Open Meetings Laws even though they may not be subject to them. It's easy enough to do. Create rules and practices that most everyone understands and agrees with. Executive sessions can and should be held around personnel issues, real estate transactions, litigation and a few other confidential areas. Conflicts will arise but at least there is and can be an attempt at openness and transparency. In addition, an organization that operates like this will be much better prepared for the day when these practices are mandated by government.

I mentioned trust early on. Many organizations are quick to point out that they can't trust people with information or discussions that go on in their meetings. It's my opinion that this just continues a vicious cycle of mistrust among all of the players. When people hear that people think they can't be trusted, they tend to mistrust the parties even more and so on and so forth. Trust is something that needs to be built over periods of time. When people in power use their power to control and withhold information from other people, especially stakeholders, relationships fail. It's just natural. So openness, supportive relationships and sharing of ideas, although sometimes difficult, can work miracles relative to building partnerships and trust.

The bottom line is that we can't just always point our fingers at government for not being open. The private sector of non profits has big responsibilities in this area too. A great resource for good governance practices can be found at the Independent Sector's Website. Non profits and their board members would be well served by reviewing these materials and discussing open business practices.