Three Cups of Tea: An NPO warning?

I wanted to share a blog post I read that really emphasizes why I feel that rating sites like Charity Navigator are doing good. Saundra Schimmelpfennig writes about the Three Cups of Tea Scandal in which Greg Mortenson is being sued for fraud and racketeering and how his organization, Central Asia Institute, failed to supply evidence or measures of impact to support its claims.

Charity Navigator’s results reporting criteria are crucial in forcing a NPO to think about what is does and providing evidence. I do not think it is an undue burden on the organization to keep records of what it does. To me that seems a very basic organizational practice. Taking everything a step further and bringing in independent evaluations seems within the capacity of organizations that compensate directors with a six-figure income.

Some in class have stated that nonprofit organizations should be allowed to do what they do best without holding them to a long list of standardized criteria. But there has to be a balance, and I think that balance is freedom to utilize given funds, but provide evidence of any independent evaluations and measures of results after a period of time has lapsed.

You can watch the 60 Minutes report here. And this is an impressive list of links covering the story (check out the story on “Founders Syndrome” at Forbes which touches on what we have read about leadership).