As a charity, we are accountable to our staff, partners, donors, stakeholders, the UK government, overseas project countries, and most importantly, to our beneficiaries living in poverty whom we support. Strong governance and management are critical to our success and reputation, and accordingly, we have a Board of Trustees that takes overall responsibility for our work.
Transparency is important because it builds trust which means the people we help, our supporters, and other stakeholders can make more meaningful choices. It proves to our financial supporters how we’ve made a difference with their donations.
The board leads the charity in being transparent and accountable. The charity is open in its work unless there is a good reason for it not to be. The charity takes seriously its responsibility for building public trust and confidence in its work. The board ensures that the charity’s performance and interaction with its stakeholders are guided by the values, ethics, and culture put in place by the board. Trustees make sure that the charity collaborates with stakeholders to promote ethical conduct.
The board identifies the key stakeholders with an interest in the charity’s work. These include users or beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, members, donors, suppliers, local communities, and others. The board makes sure that there is a strategy for regular and effective communication with these stakeholders about the charity’s purposes, values, work, and achievements, including information that enables them to measure the charity’s success in achieving its purposes.
The board gets regular reports on the positive and negative feedback and complaints given to the charity. It demonstrates that it learns from mistakes and uses this learning to improve performance and internal decision-making.
The board makes sure that there is a transparent, well-publicized effective, and timely process for making and handling a complaint, and that any internal or external complaints are handled constructively, impartially, and effectively.