She visits local markets in other villages to purchase her inventory, and manages the shop and its profits by herself. He is now a professional driver and is earning a higher income for the family. Previously, Suhasini and her husband migrated to find work four times per year for a month at a time.
In addition to their businesses, the women of Gulab Baha SHG work together to access government services that improve livelihoods and food security in their community. The women also learned about a government-run Public Distribution System for people living below the poverty line. Eligible families receive rations of rice, sugar, kerosene, and other essential goods from a designated distributor.
Corruption is rampant in this program, and the women discovered that the distributor in their area was cheating them out of their supplies. Instead, they are currently in the process of applying to make their SHG an official distributor for the program, bypassing the corrupt distributor altogether. In addition to economic resilience and self-sufficiency, the program has provided the women of Gulab Baha SHG with critical access to health care and information.
The women learned about the importance of pre and postnatal care. Through the government program, the women also received free transportation to and from the clinic.
The women now know they can visit their local village health center to receive free vaccines, medicine, and check-ups for children under three. Our analysts check the Form to determine if the independent Board members are a voting majority and also at least five in number. Less No Material Diversion of Assets More A diversion of assets — any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft — can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity.
This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories: Full Credit: There has been no diversion of assets within the last two years.
Partial Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity has used Schedule O on the Form to explain: the nature of the diversion, the amount of money or property involved and the corrective action taken to address the matter. In this situation, we deduct 7 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. No Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity's explanation on Schedule O is either non-existent or not sufficient.
In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. More Audited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Partial Credit: The charity's audited financials were prepared by an independent accountant, but it did not have an audit oversight committee.
In this case, we deduct 7 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. No Credit: The charity did not have its audited financials prepared by an independent accountant. More Making loans to related parties such as key officers, staff, or Board members, is not standard practice in the sector as it may divert the charity's funds away from its charitable mission and can lead to real and perceived conflict-of-interest problems.
This practice is discouraged by sector trade groups which point to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act when they call for charities to refrain from making loans to directors and executives. And the IRS is concerned enough with the practice that it requires charities to disclose on their Form any loans to or from current and former officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and other "disqualified persons.
Furthermore, it is problematic because it is an indicator that the organization is not financially secure. Less Documents Board Meeting Minutes More An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Charities are not required to make their Board meeting minutes available to the public. As such, we are not able to review and critique their minutes. For this performance metric, we are checking to see if the charity reports on its Form that it does keep those minutes. In the future, we will also track and rate whether or not a charity keeps minutes for its committee meetings. Less Distributes to Board Before Filing More Providing copies of the Form to the governing body in advance of filing is considered a best practice, as it allows for thorough review by the individuals charged with overseeing the organization.
The Form asks the charity to disclose whether or not it has followed this best practice. If the charity has not distributed its Form to the board before filing, then we deduct 4 points from its Accountability and Transparency score.
Less Compensates Board More The IRS requires that any compensation paid to members of the charity's governing body be listed on the Form Furthermore, all members of the governing body need to be listed whether or not they are compensated.
It is not unusual for some members of the board to have compensation listed. The executive director of the organization frequently has a seat on the board, for instance, and is compensated for being a full time staff member. However, it is rare for a charity to compensate individuals only for serving on its Board of Directors.
Although this sort of board compensation is not illegal, it is not considered a best practice. Policies Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form , or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization has these policies in place. More Such a policy protects the organization, and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer or director of the organization.
Charities are not required to share their conflict of interest policies with the public. Although we can not evaluate the substance of its policy, we can tell you if the charity has one in place based on the information it reports on its Form If the charity does not have a Conflict of Interest policy, then we deduct 4 points from its Accountability and Transparency score.
Less Whistleblower More This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report any financial mismanagement.
Here we are reporting on the existence of a policy as reported by the charity on its Form Less Records Retention and Destruction More Such a policy establishes guidelines for handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promotes data integrity. If the charity does not have a Records Retention and Destruction Policy, then we deduct 4 points from its Accountability and Transparency score.
More This process indicates that the organization has a documented policy that it follows year after year. The policy should indicate that an objective and independent review process of the CEO's compensation has been conducted which includes benchmarking against comparable organizations. We check to be sure that the charity has reported on its Form its process for determining its CEO pay.
Less Donor Privacy More Donors can be reluctant to contribute to a charity when their name, address, or other basic information may become part of donor lists that are exchanged or sold, resulting in an influx of charitable solicitations from other organizations.
Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories: Yes: This charity has a written donor privacy policy published on its website, which states unambiguously that 1 it will not share or sell a donor's personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations or 2 it will only share or sell personal information once the donor has given the charity specific permission to do so.
Opt-out: The charity has a written privacy policy published on its website which enables donors to tell the charity to remove their names and contact information from lists the charity shares or sells. How a donor can have themselves removed from a list differs from one charity to the next, but any and all opt-out policies require donors to take specific action to protect their privacy. No: This charity either does not have a written donor privacy policy in place to protect their contributors' personal information, or the existing policy does not meet our criteria.
Transparency Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form , or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible.
Our analysts check to be sure that the charities complied with the Form instructions and included this information in their filing. Less Board of Directors Listed on Website More Our analysts check to see if the charity lists Board members on its website. Publishing this information enables donors and other stakeholders to ascertain the make up of the charity's governing body. This enables stakeholders to report concerns to the Board. Charity Navigator does not cross-check the Board members listed on the website with that reported on the Form , because the latter often isn't available until more than a year after the charity's fiscal year ends.
In that time, the charity's Board members may have changed, and the charity typically reflects those more recent changes on the website. Less Key Staff Listed on Website More It is important for donors and other stakeholders to know who runs the organization day-to-day. Charity Navigator does not cross-check the leadership listed on the website with that reported on the Form because the latter often isn't available until more than a year after the charity's fiscal year ends.
In that time, the charity's leadership may have changed and the charity typically reflects those more recent changes on the website. In other words, since the Form isn't especially timely, it can not be used to verify the leadership information published on the charity's site.
Less Audited Financial Statements on Website More We check the charity's website to see if it has published its audited financial statements for the fiscal year represented by the most recently filed IRS Form It is important for donors to have easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.
We currently rate charities on whether or not they publish their audit on their website. Less Form Available on Website More We check the charity's website to see if it has published its most recently filed IRS Form a direct link to the charity's on an external site is sufficient.
Additional Information. Total Revenue and Expenses. Salary of Key Persons Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. Village Associations vs. A group is categorized as a VSLA based on the following principles: Affinity grouping: Members know each other and come from similar economic backgrounds with common interests.
Periodic meetings with accounting based on the participation of all: All financial transactions savings, loans are conducted during a full meeting of the VSLA to ensure transparency and accountability. Existence of a solidarity fund: Members contribute not only to their savings, but also to a separate fund to support members in need, which is distributed upon group consensus.
Members are required to purchase between 1 and 5 shares per VSLA meeting to encourage saving. Lending and repayment: The fund for loans is the sum total of the shares currently owned by members, the interest generated by previously repaid loans, and payments for penalties. Members are not allowed to accumulate loans. VSLAs build financial literacy and savings, and offer access to low-interest loans to grow livelihood activities.
Dans le cadre de notre programme au Niger, nous avons soutenu le processus de transformation des associations villageoises en AVECs. This focus on working with market gardeners and communities continued as he moved from […]. Related Story.
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