Accountability and legitimacy
We think these responses are surprising and revealing. We asked, “Where does a trust or foundation derive its legitimacy from?” The answer, “Through its accountability as a regulated charity” was selected by significantly more respondents than any other. Respondents were allowed to select more than one answer and we did not ask them to weight or rank their answers so we need to exercise some caution in interpreting the results. However, there is a stark contrast between this answer and the one which was selected by fewest respondents, namely, “It has no inherent legitimacy”.
“If you are making grants, in a reactive way ... to charitable organisations doing good work on the ground you are protecting yourself from any accusations of not being accountable. But this is not a way of delivering change at a societal level.” Member of staff/board at the Fund This is a fascinating and complex area. Of the many questions one could choose to explore, we have chosen the following: • •
Yet this is the answer that we would suggest lies nearer to the truth. For most funders the money which they disburse originally comes from private sources (although they may enjoy some state support in the form of tax breaks). There are of course exceptions to this, such as the Big Lottery Fund, or to some extent the Fund (since a sizeable part of its endowment came from public donations and the sale of merchandise to the public.) But for most funders it
What, if anything, gives funders legitimacy? What is funder accountability and is it important?
To start unpacking the first of these let us look at what funders themselves said in the survey.
Where does a trust or foundation derive its legitimacy from? (please tick all that apply)
0
20
40
60
80
From the fact that it works with charities which represent constituencies of support From its founder/benefactor From its Board From the accountability to beneficiaries that is tested through compliance monitoring and evaluation It has no inherent legitimacy Through its accountability as a regulated charity Other (please specify)
Online survey of funders (ACF members) summer 2011 – base 107 58