慈善组织准入制度研究

郭美美事件、宋基会事件、红基会事件,近一两年,中国慈善界问题频发,慈善事业现状引起社会各界的广泛讨论。慈善事业在世界各国都源远流长,慈善组织的产生更是可以追溯到很久以前。我国的慈善事业自2008年以后蓬勃发展,慈善组织,尤其民间慈善组织,迎来了发展的最好时机。当前,我国慈善事业中显现出来颇多问题,尤其是政府监管方面,这里仅就慈善组织准入制度进行探讨。     

慈善组织准入制度研究

郭美美事件、宋基会事件、红基会事件,近一两年,中国慈善界问题频发,慈善事业现状引起社会各界的广泛讨论。慈善事业在世界各国都源远流长,慈善组织的产生更是可以追溯到很久以前。我国的慈善事业自2008年以后蓬勃发展,慈善组织,尤其民间慈善组织,迎来了发展的最好时机。当前,我国慈善事业中显现出来颇多问题,尤其是政府监管方面,这里仅就慈善组织准入制度进行探讨。     

我国慈善组织监管机制探析

慈善组织是非营利组织中从事慈善事业的组织。我国在改革开放以来,慈善事业发展的法律法规和政策初步形成,慈善组织呈现良好发展态势,慈善事业在促进社会公平、维护社会稳定等方面的作用日显突出。但同时也显现了其在参与社会救助过程的一系列问题:比如慈善组织的定位、内部治理以及监管等都成为亟待立法解决的问题。     

我国慈善组织监管机制探析

慈善组织是非营利组织中从事慈善事业的组织。我国在改革开放以来,慈善事业发展的法律法规和政策初步形成,慈善组织呈现良好发展态势,慈善事业在促进社会公平、维护社会稳定等方面的作用日显突出。但同时也显现了其在参与社会救助过程的一系列问题:比如慈善组织的定位、内部治理以及监管等都成为亟待立法解决的问题。     

当前我国慈善组织关系探析

慈善组织是慈善事业发展的载体。当前我国慈善组织依据不同方式分为多种类型,不同类型慈善组织之间存在着互助协作一面,也存在着不和谐的一面。慈善组织间不和谐原因在于募捐不规范、组织间缺乏沟通及“大慈善”意识的缺乏,为此需要改进募捐办法、加强组织间沟通、树立“大慈善”意识、发挥政府管理部门“裁判”作用,来解决慈善组织间不和谐状况,促进慈善组织和慈善事业的顺利发展。     

地方慈善会发展思考——以佳木斯市慈善总会为例

作为一种典型的非营利组织,地方慈善会在促进社会公平与稳定方面发挥着重要的作用,开展相关领域研究对我国非营利组织与慈善事业的发展具有比较重要的意义。本文以"最美女教师"张丽莉筹款行动组织方佳木斯市慈善总会为例,以实际调研信息为基础,通过与非营利组织相关理论的结合,指出地方慈善会受制于现阶段体制机制,在外部监管与内部治理方面仍存在问题,并给出了相关对策。地方政府与慈善总会唯有通力协作,方能突破现有局限。     

美国人的财富观

白天赚钱晚上捐 在美国,很少有富翁为了个人消费而毫无节制地花钱,他们大多致力于为慈善事业作贡献.<福布斯>杂志公布的"慈善榜"表明,最近10年来,美国富翁捐赠给各类慈善组织的金额已超过2000亿美元.     

“草根”慈善的可推广模式

我国的慈善事业经过改革开放近30年的发展,虽然取得了一些成效,但与发达国家相比还有不小的差距,即使在大城市,这种差距也是非常明显的。为什么我们的慈善事业步履如此艰难?我想这与我们所选择的慈善模式不无关系。长期以来,我们的慈善事业并没有真正走向民间、走向基     

从依附到合作：中国慈善组织与政府关系

现代慈善事业是一种有组织的社会化行为,其典型特征是捐助者与受助者分离,由慈善组织充当着捐助者与受助者之间的中介和桥梁。慈善组织的发育情况以及能否取得社会的普遍信任在很大程度上决定了一个国家慈善事业的发达程度。而慈善组织与政府的关系又影响着慈善组织的发展。基于此,有必要对慈善组织与政府关系的现状及未来走向进行深入的探讨。     

“BBB明智捐款联盟”的评价标准体系

美国的慈善事业之所以成功,除了其拥有完善的法律法规体系外,独立于政府监督的第三方监督也起到了不可替代的作用,"BBB明智捐款联盟"就是众多第三方监督机构之一。本文对"BBB明智捐款联盟"进行了简要介绍,然后详细说明了联盟的慈善组织评价标准及应用指引,以及其评估报告的类型和内容,最后提出针对我国慈善评估机构建立与完善的启示。     

Negotiating for survival: Balancing mission and money

The impetus for prioritising money over mission in charities is increasingly pertinent as public sector austerity progresses in the UK. Mid size charities – who are heavily reliant on grant funding - have experienced proportionately greater challenges to austerity than larger entities. A substantial part of accountability efforts in mid size charities are directed towards funders, where funder imposed frameworks and measures may direct charity attention away from social mission towards funder needs, causing mission drift. Four charity case studies and grant funder interviews were conducted to investigate how charities can pursue social mission in a challenging funding environment. This paper shows that charities can protect social mission despite high dependence on grant funding, but also provides evidence of susceptibility to mission drift in cases where the balance between money and mission changes. Charity accounting systems display notable funder influence. A resource dependence perspective is utilised to highlight the complexity in assessing dependence of charities in a challenging environment and demonstrates the extent of funder influence in accounting and performance systems in these charities. However, charities employ strategies to cope with external requirements, enabling them to retain mission focus.     

慈善组织公信力重建的路径选择

公信力是慈善组织的生命线,频发的慈善负面事件使得慈善组织公信力处于危险境地,但同时也带来公信力重建的机遇。慈善组织公信力建设是现代福利国家的必然选择。慈善组织公信力重建路径具有多维性,重建过程中需要注重慈善组织自身建设、政府与慈善组织的关系建设、公益慈善法律法规体系建设和多元监督体系与第三方评估建设这四个方面。此外,透明度建设是慈善组织公信力重建的突破口,提升诚信度和慈善能力是慈善组织公信力重建的内在动力,第三方评估和监督机制是慈善组织公信力重建的外在动力。     

Small is beautiful? Financial efficiency of small fundraising charities

The study analyses potential scale efficiencies of 1196 Dutch fundraising charities for 2005–2009. The data set includes a unique group of small charities (reporting an income of less than €1 million). The study articulates and tests differences in financial efficiency between smaller and larger charities, specifically concerning program expenditure, administrative expenditure, and fundraising expenditure. The study finds that reported levels of program-spending efficiency and administrative efficiency are similar across small and large charities, with no economies of scale. In addition, the study finds that smaller charities report considerably better fundraising efficiency ratios, with the smallest charities reporting an average spend of €8 to raise €100 and the largest charities reporting an average spend of €15. The paper discusses why larger charities appear to experience scale inefficiencies in fundraising and provides directions for further research.     

Integrated performance management using information technology: a study of UK charities

This paper explores how UK charities use information technology (IT) to support integrated performance management (IPM). Based on six case studies of small and medium-sized charities (SMCs), it finds that SMCs see IT as important for IPM, but face significant barriers establishing effective IPM. The paper concludes that charities would benefit from a more strategic infrastructure approach to IT, integrating IT for data, information and knowledge.     

Financial Reporting by Charities: Why Do Some Choose to Report Under a More Extensive Reporting Framework?

While voluntary disclosure theory posits that profit-oriented companies voluntarily disclose information to increase their market value, this does not explain why a charity would report in accordance with a more comprehensive financial reporting framework than required. Using a unique financial reporting framework choice available in Australia, our study examines factors associated with large charities’ choice of a General Purpose Financial Statements (GPFS) reporting framework, which encompasses expansive financial reporting requirements, versus a Special Purpose Financial Statements (SPFS) reporting framework, where management, within limits, effectively chooses that subset of accounting standards applicable to that charity. For those preparing GPFS, we then examine the factors that determine those charities that report in accordance with the complete set of Australian Accounting Standards (Tier 1) versus Reduced Disclosure Requirements (Tier 2). Using manually collected data from 11,471 large-registered charities for 2014–2016, we find that the economic importance of the charity, its funding sources, and level of indebtedness are significant in explaining charities choosing a more comprehensive financial reporting framework. Further, we find a substantial increase in the proportion of large charities electing to disclose GPFS-Tier 2 over this three-year window. The choice of a large audit firm (Big 4 and mid-tier audit firms) is significantly associated with charities both lodging more comprehensive GPFS, and also reporting GPFS in accordance with the less onerous GPFS-Tier 2 framework. Our results provide insights into voluntary reporting choices made by charities and inform charities, accounting firms, and regulators of factors influencing charities’ choice of financial reporting frameworks.     

Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Given the values-driven nature of the mission of most charities, it might be expected that investment behaviour would be similarly values-driven. This paper documents the ethical investment policies and practices of the largest UK charities and explores how these are aligned with the charitable aims, drawing upon accountability, behavioural and managerial perspectives as theoretical lenses. The study employs two distinct research methods: responses to a postal questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews with selected charities. The evidence indicates that a significant minority of large charities do not have a written ethical investment policy. Charities with larger investments, fundraising charities and religious charities were more likely to have a written ethical policy. We suggest that there is a pressing need for improved alignment between charities' aims and their investment practices and better monitoring of investment policies.     

Earnings Management by Non‐profit Organisations: Evidence from UK Charities

Informed by stakeholder theory and resource dependence theory, this paper investigates whether UK charities are engaged in earnings management practices. Based on a sample of 1414 charities over a five‐year period (2008–2012) the study firstly finds that UK charities use discretionary accruals to drive their financial results towards a zero surplus/deficit; this result also reveals that the distribution of reported earnings around zero is prevalent amongst UK charities. In addition, in contrast to prior findings, the empirical results point to a significant association between leverage and earnings management behaviour by charities. Lastly, this study finds that the practice of earnings management is influenced by non‐profit organisational size.     

Performance reporting: a comparative study of British and Irish charities

The concept of accountability seems inextricably linked with the view that accounting should provide information to satisfy the information needs of users. The user-needs model is now well established as a useful basis for a conceptual framework for charity reporting, and annual reports are recognised as key documents in the discharge of accountability to external users. It has been suggested that both financial information and also performance information should be disclosed to aid the discharge of accountability. However, previous empirical work conducted in Britain found that while audited financial information was most frequently disclosed by charities, users viewed wider performance information as being of greater importance. No comparable work has been conducted in Ireland. This paper focuses on information outside the financial statements and seeks to identify the type and extent of the reporting of performance information by charities in both Britain and Ireland. The main findings of the research are: performance reporting by British charities, although limited, is considerably better than that of their Irish counterparts; performance reporting by British charities has increased over time; and large charities (both in Britain and Ireland) provide more extensive performance information than small charities. These findings are discussed in both the context of accountability and in terms of conceivable economic incentives for disclosure. In addition, possible reasons for lower disclosure rates by Irish charities are explored.     

Audit value and charitable organizations

I examine whether donors favor charities that use high quality auditors and whether the propensity to donate varies directly with audit quality. I find that audit quality affects donor decisions in the market for contributions. From a signaling perspective, charities benefit simply from engaging a higher quality auditor. From an information perspective, donors are more sensitive to changes in reported accounting information verified by a high quality auditor. I also find that, after conditioning on the charity’s reputation, donors are still willing to give more to charities aligned with a quality auditor, but the effect of audit quality choice dissipates with the size of the charity. Thus, a charity’s reputation and the choice of auditor are substitute mechanisms for signaling the credibility of financial information to donors.     

Governance and Funds Allocation in United States Medical Research Charities

We examine boards of directors of medical research charities and find that medical charities spend less on program activities and more on fund-raising when the executive director of the charity serves on the board of directors, especially when the board is small. Executive salaries are also higher at charities where management is represented on the board. Management and general expenses and fund balances are, however, unrelated either to the presence of an insider on the board or to the size of the board.