After a two-year process consulting with members and other stakeholders in the philanthropic sector, WINGS has launched the Accountability and transparency toolkit in philanthropy and private social investment. It aims to increase awareness, highlight key issues, concepts and practices, and provide tools for support organizations to advance the discussion and practice of accountability.

The toolkit shows how accountability and transparency are intrinsically linked through a simple formula:

accountability = information (transparency) + participation (voice)

It presents ten compelling reasons for accountability and transparency, including public support, resource mobilization and local ownership, and how WINGS members promote the issue. The toolkit also debunks myths such as that transparency takes too much time away from real work.

The exploration of accountability and transparency to prepare the toolkit identified six standards, together with the steps, resources and tools needed for the achievement of each. According to María Carolina Suárez of Colombia’s Asociación de Fundaciones Empresariales and board member of WINGS: ‘The toolkit represents a global and friendly instrument for philanthropy organizations to understand the most important standards and basic steps to be accountable and transparent, as key elements to achieving greater effectiveness and impact.’

For more information
http://www.wingsweb.org at http://tinyurl.com/WingsToolkit