Trust: the hinge between Performance and Accountability

Vick Murray talks about ‘‘accountability movement’’ which "refers to the belief that nonprofits, and those who run them, should be more 'accountable' to those they are created to serve and those who provide the money to operate them." I think that accountability is not solely about the money spent but also about the trust and faith that donors and the wider community deposited in the recipient organization to deliver a social service. My point is that if trust had not existed beforehand, perhaps the financial contribution would not have been possible. So if trust is the context of the relationship between donor and organization, it should be used as a starting point to address key issues present in their relationship... key issues such as the accountability process. Beforehand, both organization and donors should come under a consensus about the best indicators of effectiveness that should be measured in an accountability process. Also, how should the data be interpreted and how will the evaluation be used. I think so, because I think the evaluation process, as Murray suggests in his reading, is subjective and can be influenced by factors that are not under the control of organizations. By agreeing with the "expected" performance of the nonprofit, both donor and organization will have more objective indicators that will facilitate the "accountability" process, and to the long run will allow a clearer identification of how effective the organization is.