logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | USAID and NGO Transparency—Default, Secrecy

Rick Cohen
August 26, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

 

August 24, 2010; Source: Aid Watch | NPQ recently advocated for the disclosure of core documents in the Social Innovation Fund grantmaking process by the Corporation for National and Community Service as a transparency measure but we realize that CNCS did not stand alone in its unwillingness to share such information. New York University’s Bill Easterly edits an intriguing blog that focuses on the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the extent to which it directs foreign aid to address poverty. A guest blogger described his “painful 14-month struggle” to get USAID to publish project budgets of NGOs it had funded to work in the Republic of Georgia. He eventually received documents on 19 NGOs, private contractors, and UN bodies funded by AID, but the information varied from complete budgets for some, to significantly redacted budgets for others, to one, which even withheld the identity of the grantee.

According to the blogger, USAID explained that it was legally obligated to ask each grantee “to address how the disclosure of their information could reasonably be expected to cause substantial competitive harm” and attributed redactions to requests by the grantee NGOs. The entities that redacted nothing were the two UN agencies and three NGOs (UMCOR, Mercy Corps, and AIHA). In contrast, CARE permitted only the publication of a “summary budget,” even redacting information regarding its indirect cost rate and the bottom line budget total.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The worst were apparently World Vision (which we covered in a newswire recently on religious discrimination in hiring) and two others, which had all information blacked out except for the grand totals. World Vision responded to the blogger that there was no evidence that USAID ever contacted them about the public disclosure request, but USAID twice confirmed that it did contact all of the grantees.

Here’s the rub: If the grantee doesn’t respond to the USAID request, USAID simply withholds all of the information, making non-disclosure the default agency policy. Knowing that, grantees that don’t want information to be revealed can take the easy route of no reply in order to maintain secrecy.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell, Jenn Stowe and Mary Wilder

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.