Many politicians are learning the all-too-important lesson that in the Internet-age any comment made once – either verbally or in writing – seemingly lives forever. Context rarely matters. In such times one would think that transparency is a given. We tend to differ. Transparency is far more than just having access to every comment (and flub) that someone makes.
Transparency or the commitment to open processes and/or reporting of decisions, even in the Internet-age, is still an exception rather than the rule. One of the early commitments that the Endowment made as an organization was to develop a set of values and then detailed stewardship principles that put “feet to those values.” The seventh and foundational of our stewardship principles is summed up as, “We value transparency, welcome public interest and communicate openly.”
Easy to Say; Hard to Do
In a world that appears to be linked from one-end-to-the-other, we often find the various media vehicles and information flow yields only overload. We know that one media or one message won’t serve all needs. We find this to be indelible even in our very small staff of just 6 (including our annual intern). Each of us has a different learning style and desires to receive and ponder information in different ways. Take it to the next level with our 13 Board members and we don’t just add 13 additional styles, the challenge expands exponentially. When taken to the next level – that unnumbered subset of America’s 310 +/- million citizens who are interested in our work – and the exercise becomes mind boggling.
In a world that appears to be linked from one-end-to-the-other, we often find the various media vehicles and information flow yields only overload. We know that one media or one message won’t serve all needs. We find this to be indelible even in our very small staff of just 6 (including our annual intern). Each of us has a different learning style and desires to receive and ponder information in different ways. Take it to the next level with our 13 Board members and we don’t just add 13 additional styles, the challenge expands exponentially. When taken to the next level – that unnumbered subset of America’s 310 +/- million citizens who are interested in our work – and the exercise becomes mind boggling.
So, without trying to be all things to all people, we’ve committed our selves to turning our “valuing of transparency” into several tangible approaches that we hope serve to “welcome public interest” on one hand and “communicate openly” on the other.
Tools to Advance Transparency
Among the many tools that we used to advance our commitment to transparency are: This blog (now published twice monthly); an annual report (published both as hard copy and an electronic version); news stories on our website; publication of final reports and “quick and dirty” summaries of convenings (to share learnings and avoid duplication of effort); one-page summaries of each of our projects and/or initiatives; press releases on significant happenings; two-way outreach sessions with specific groups as our program staff travels about the nation; a ListServ to link to those who express interest in our work; immediate publication of annual audits as well as IRS Form 990’s upon their approval; and, two additional tools – quarterly “plain language reports” (for those with interest in our stewardship); and evaluation reports that share learnings (both positive and negative) regarding the impacts of our programmatic investments.
Among the many tools that we used to advance our commitment to transparency are: This blog (now published twice monthly); an annual report (published both as hard copy and an electronic version); news stories on our website; publication of final reports and “quick and dirty” summaries of convenings (to share learnings and avoid duplication of effort); one-page summaries of each of our projects and/or initiatives; press releases on significant happenings; two-way outreach sessions with specific groups as our program staff travels about the nation; a ListServ to link to those who express interest in our work; immediate publication of annual audits as well as IRS Form 990’s upon their approval; and, two additional tools – quarterly “plain language reports” (for those with interest in our stewardship); and evaluation reports that share learnings (both positive and negative) regarding the impacts of our programmatic investments.
Annual Reports
While the Endowment has no legal requirement to produce and distribute an annual report, we’ve chosen to do so from our inception. In fact, we just distributed our 5th report (calendar year 2011) that overviews not only results from the prior year, but also looks back to learnings and successes from our entire history.
While the Endowment has no legal requirement to produce and distribute an annual report, we’ve chosen to do so from our inception. In fact, we just distributed our 5th report (calendar year 2011) that overviews not only results from the prior year, but also looks back to learnings and successes from our entire history.
While most Endowment documents are generated only as electronic version so as to ease access and distribution, we mail a hard copy of the annual report to every member of Congress as well as a long list of partners and opinion leaders.
If you’ve viewed our annual report before – and we encourage you to do so HERE – you’ll note that it is much shorter than that of many of our peers. Our intent is to produce something that we hope will be a quick and easy read. Too, this year we are adding new features in the form of live links that dig a bit deeper into how and why we do some of the things we do. Those will be rolling out over coming weeks, so keep checking back.
Future Blogs
In the next couple of issues of our blog we will dig a bit deeper on some of our other transparency tools. At any time we welcome your thoughts on ways we can effectively enhance chances of success towards our transparency objective.
In the next couple of issues of our blog we will dig a bit deeper on some of our other transparency tools. At any time we welcome your thoughts on ways we can effectively enhance chances of success towards our transparency objective.
No comments:
Post a Comment