Accountability is a challenge for community-based social organizations. Sometimes placed in the background in favor of direct activities with beneficiaries, the lack of emphasis on accountability can harm fundraising and transparency with donors.
Presenting accurate financial data and demonstrating commitment and work efficiency is essential to attract investment and avoid losing financing opportunities. Donors expect a return on their support, whether in the form of reports or documents that demonstrate the use of resources.
In order to encourage this practice and demonstrate its importance for the management strategy, our Social Investments team implemented a simplified accountability process in Futuro Bem Maior – the program institutionally supports small initiatives located in socially vulnerable municipalities in Brazil. Although incipient, the chosen approach has already generated positive results for both us and them.
During the first quarter of the fourth edition of the program, which began in January, we presented each organization and collective with the accountability process for this first year. We adopted a simple spreadsheet , in Google Sheets , with just one tab. This spreadsheet contains fields for inserting relevant financial information, such as income, expenses, dates, space for describing the expense and a column for categorizing the expense (human resources, equipment, services, etc.). The data serves as input for analysis. Furthermore, we chose to waive the need to present receipts and proof.
The simplicity of the spreadsheet and the flexibility of proof requirements were implemented with the aim of facilitating the fulfillment of this demand, allowing CSOs to focus their efforts on essential day-to-day activities and on the management training offered at Futuro Bem Maior. With the task, we also seek to encourage transparency and financial responsibility .
The simplified format also brings benefits to us, as funders, as it allows us to have a comprehensive view of the activities carried out by the supported organizations, as well as evaluate the effectiveness and importance of the institutional and free financial support we offer, thus strengthening our relationship of trust.
In the first rendering of accounts, we received positive feedback on the process. Some organizations expressed satisfaction with using the online spreadsheet, even those that had never used this type of tool before. Others expressed interest in replicating the accountability spreadsheet model for internal use in other assignments.
These responses illustrate that, by inserting and visualizing data in a systematic and simplified way, organizations are able to reflect on their financial management, reinforcing the importance of accountability as a valuable tool for institutional strengthening . Through this process, organizations not only meet the expectations of funders and civil society, but also achieve significant internal benefits.
We hope to find additional evidence in the next reports that simplicity can also be efficient, providing more information to improve the process and allow internal analyzes of the initiatives. We are confident in the transformative potential of the community-based organizations we support and are committed to helping their development, working together to build a Greater Future !
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This post was written by
Thainara Martins,
MBM project analyst
