Voluntary Regulation of NGOs and Nonprofits: An Accountability Club Framework

by Edited by Mary Kay Gugerty , Aseem Prakash

• ISBN13: 9780521763141
• ISBN10: 0521763142
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

How can nonprofit organizations and NGOs demonstrate to stakeholders that they are using funds appropriately and delivering on their promises? Many nonprofit stakeholders, including funders and regulators, have few opportunities to observe nonprofit internal management and policies. Such information deficits impede outside 'principals' from differentiating credible nonprofits from the less credible ones. This volume examines a key instrument employed by nonprofits to respond to these challenges: voluntary accountability clubs. These clubs are voluntary, rule-based systems created and sponsored by non governmental actors. Through these clubs, nonprofits agree to abide by certain rules regarding internal governance and send a signal of quality to key principals. Nonprofit voluntary programs are relatively new but are spreading rapidly across issue areas. This book investigates how the emergence, design and success of such initiatives vary across a range of sectors and institutional contexts in the United States, the Netherlands, Africa, and Central Europe.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. ix
List of tables	p. x
Notes on contributors	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
The Club framework
Voluntary regulation of NGOs and nonprofits: an introduction to the club framework	p. 3
Club emergence
Filling the gaps in nonprofit accountability: applying the club perspective in the US legal system	p. 41
Trends and patterns in third-party accreditation clubs	p. 64
Self-regulation at the state level: nonprofit membership associations and club emergence	p. 85
Club sponsorship and club design
Nonprofit infrastructure associations as reluctant clubs	p. 101
Foundation accountability clubs and the search for philanthropic standards	p. 125
Do self-regulation clubs work? Some evidence from Europe and some caveats from economic theory	p. 152
NGO accountability clubs in the humanitarian sector: social dimensions of club emergence and design	p. 169
Club design and effectiveness
The impact of sponsorship on club standards and design	p. 203
The emergence and design of NGO clubs in Africa	p. 228
The benefits of accreditation clubs for fundraising nonprofits	p. 253
Future research and conclusions
Conclusions: nonprofit accountability clubs	p. 283
Index	p. 303
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