Accountability for NPO Dialogue?

Charity Navigator currently bases accountability ratings on information provided on the 990 form and the organization's websites. In addition to this type of disclosure however, I would like to see nonprofit organizations held accountable for "Dialogue." How are they engaging their stakeholders? What, if any, actions are they taking based on this dialogue?

I found an interesting article by Saxon and Guo (2011) in which they propose that web-based accountability is not only disclosure but also dialogue, which they define as consisting of "solicitation of stakeholder input" and "interactive engagement." At the library I can document how many patrons use the library internet access per month and demonstrate a need for that access, but that does not mean that the library is asking if other services would be better, or if there are additional services needed such as classes on how to use the computers.

Given the problems with feedback within the sub-sector of human services as identified by Dr. Campbell in "Is constituent feedback living up to it's promise?" such as lack of capacity, the value of the data collected, and disagreement over the purpose of feedback itself, holding NPOs accountable for feedback solicitation does have its problems. But I would propose that the accountability goal not be a glowing success in feedback solicitation, but simply evidence as to any efforts successful or not made by the organization to gain understanding of what is in fact needed by the community from the organization. One goal of mine for the Tioga County Historical Society is to facilitate a few focus groups to determine the needs of area educators in order to provide appropriate programs based on our exhibits.

If it was decided to make dialogue a component of accountability either by the government, or other organizations like Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau, what might be the best way to do so? Given the contingency framework by Ebrahim and Rangan, is it possible for all organizations to collect feedback? Would you support Saxton and Guo's dialogue accountability? While they frame it in a web-based context, I would support it in any form - at least on the size/financial level of organizations large enough to be included at Charity Navigator; these organizations would seem to have the capacity for the most part to at least make some efforts in pursuing dialogue accountability, either through a website or through a simple print-based survey.