Rating Grameen Bank: The Impact of a Multi-dimensional Rating System

The Battle for the Soul of the Nonprofit Sector mentions how unique the nonprofit sector is in its ability to address many social problems (5). A fact that all of us have come to learn as MPA students. The article used Grameen Bank as an example of an unique nonprofit. Grameen Bank is a nonprofit that is known as a bank for the poor. Ironically, during the break I had read a MPA student’s blog who interned at Grameen Bank . (If you are interested in reading his blog, here is the link: http://gbinternship.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-06T18%3A24%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7


The intern described his experience as one that opened his eyes to the inner-workings of the bank. The intern believed that he had seen enough to develop strong criticisms of the operational practices of Grameen Bank. For instance, he suspected that center managers were performing their audits out of formality without following prescribed methods they were trained with. While this is just one intern’s critique of Grameen’s operational practices, I can’t help but wonder the impact a multi-dimensional rating system would have on Grameen Bank’s current 4-star rating on Charity Navigator. Would this add pressure to Grameen Bank’s central mangers to reevaluate their audit methods?