Nonprofit Accountability Standards and Self-Assessment Initiative

This piece of academic research provides an insight into the understanding of nonprofit accountability through detailing the various perspectives and introducing an initiative designed to assess the accountability of third sector organizations. A detailed analysis was undertaken of the challenges civil society and its organizations are facing, addressing issues of governance, legitimacy, public trust, funding, and effectiveness. Subsequently a model of general accountability standards along with practical guidelines got constructed on how to effectively manage the accountability of nonprofit organizations. A self-assessment methodology is supplementing the model, which enables the organizations to measure their compliance with the standards. The complex GNAS initiative got tested on a small local sample and proved to be an adequate tool for assessing the accountability of nonprofit organizations. This study is of general interest and has value and relevance to both academics and practitioners.