The State of Nonprofit Transparency

Guidestar has offered a new report, “The State of Nonprofit Transparency, 2008: Voluntary Disclosure Practices.”

Do you know how often nonprofits describe their programs and accomplishments on their Web sites? Do you know how often they post their annual reports? GuideStar’s new report is the first-ever systematic review of the information nonprofits make available to the public on the Internet. The report analyzes the on-line disclosure practices of more than 1,800 nonprofits and gives GuideStar’s recommendations for taking nonprofit transparency to the next level. (Read the Executive Summary.)

Some findings:

• More than nine in 10 nonprofits have a website, and almost half post their annual reports
• Only 13 percent post their audited financial statements and only three percent post their IRS letters of determination, both of which GuideStar recommends making available online.