{"id":5126,"date":"2014-08-15T00:20:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T00:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/?page_id=5126&lang=en"},"modified":"2018-06-04T21:03:40","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T21:03:40","slug":"standards-of-transparency-and-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/standards-of-transparency-and-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Standards of Transparency and Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The standards of transparency and best practices<\/strong><\/span> for NGOs are recommendations from Confio to the organizations in terms of transparency and institutional reinforcement. The Standards were developed considering the international standards<\/strong><\/span> suggested by ICFO (International Committee on Fundraising Organizations) and adapted taking into account the Mexican legislation, the specific characteristics of the Mexican non-profit sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confio\u2019s model is designed so that any NGO could be analyzed, and neither the sector it worked in, size (in terms of budget), or local or national character would have an influence on its potential to comply with the Standards.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Confio\u2019s public reports <\/span>offer individuals and companies, independent, objective and consistent information on NGOs, to help them decide what NGO to collaborate with. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

9 Standards of Transparency and Best Practices (STBP):<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
<\/span>1.-Operation and regulation of the governing board .<\/div>
A.<\/b>The board of directors has a minimum of five voting members.
\nB. The governing body meets at least fourtimes per year,with face-to-face attendance or by videoconference participationof the board. There should be at least one meeting per year with a majority in attendance of the governing board.<\/span><\/b>
\nC. Each member of the governing board attends either by videoconference or by face to face participation to at least one meeting during the year.<\/span><\/b>
\nD.Governing board members are regularly renewed<\/span><\/b>.
\nE. Only a limited number of the board members receive income of any type from both the organization and other related entities. This percentage is lower than 40% of the members.<\/span><\/b>.
\nF. The organization has public disclosure of information about its board members and its directors. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b>
\nG.The organization keeps a controlled record of the board meetings.<\/span><\/b>
\nH.The governing board members and the organization\u2019s directors have no relationship.<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>2.- Clarity and disclosure of the organization\u00b4s mission.<\/div>
A. <\/b>The mission is the essence of the organization;the activities carried out by the organization shouldachieve its mission and follow social benefit goals.
\nB. <\/b>All members of the organization, including volunteers, are well aware of the organization\u00b4s mission, which is alsoavailable to the public.
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>3.- Planning and activities follow up.<\/div>
A. The organization has a strategic plan and\/or an annual operations plan, which is known by the governing board. <\/span><\/b>
\nB. For the last two years the organization’s actions and performance show effectiveness in achieving its mission. \u00a0<\/span><\/b>
\nC. The organization has defined, measurable objectives and control systems to follow up the actions that fulfill the organization\u00b4s goals.<\/span><\/b>
\nD. The organization has a defined control system to follow up on the organization\u00b4s beneficiaries <\/span><\/b>
\nE. The organization provides donors with reports about the organization’s performance and effectiveness on the projects they support. <\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>4.- Communication and truthful information..<\/div>
A. The organization\u00b4s activities for communication, fund raising, and \u00a0informational materials, distributed by any means, do reflect the organization\u00b4s mission, are accurate, truthful and not misleading.<\/span><\/b>
\nB. <\/b>The organization delivers an annual report available to all, and on request.
\nC. The audited financial statements are available to all. <\/span><\/b>
\nD. <\/b>Infor<\/span>mation of the organization is available at all the official sites. <\/span><\/b>
\nE.<\/b>\u00a0The organization has an internet web page with updated contents.<\/span>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>5.- Financing transparency.<\/div>
A. The organization discloses information about its main financing sources, with quantities donated by each donor, from either public or private sector. <\/span><\/b>
\nB. The organization keeps a document to report income and expenses of fundraising activities.<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>6.- Fund raising plurality.<\/div>
A. The organization performs activities aimed to pursue a diverse source of income from public and private entities.<\/span><\/b>
\nB. None of the organizations\u00b4 donors provide more than the 50% of the total income on a continuous basis for the last two years.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>7.- Control in fund expenditure.<\/div>
A. <\/b>The organization prepares an annual budget for the year ahead and its governing board is well aware of such budget.
\nB.<\/b>The organization reports a breakdown of expenses that shows what portion of these expenses was allocated to each project\/program.
\nC. Donors are able to verify that their charity was assigned to the specific action they requested; through control activities implemented by the organization. <\/span><\/b>
\nD. The resources the organization has are proportionate to the budgeted expenses. If there is limited cash at the organization, the governing board must approve it.\u00a0 <\/span><\/b>
\nE. For the past two years, the organization has had a balanced financial structure.<\/span><\/b>
\nF. Financial investments follow fair criteria.<\/span><\/b>
\nG. Investments in non-financial institutions are related to organization\u00b4s mission and should be approved by the governing board.<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>8.- Financial statements disclosure and the accomplishment of the fiscal and legal liabilities. <\/div>
A.<\/b> Audited financial statements and notes are achieved according to the Mexican financial information standards and are presented to the governing board.
\nB. The organization presents fulfillment of its legal and fiscal liabilities in its audited financial statements, such audit should be performed by a certified public accountant.<\/span><\/b>
\nC. The organization\u00b4s accounting and financial statements audit should be performed by a person\/office with no relationship to the organization.<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>9.- Volunteering encouragement.<\/div>
A.Volunteers participate in the organization\u00b4s activities.<\/span><\/b>
\nB. The organization outlines the activities to be performed by volunteers. <\/span><\/b>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The standards of transparency and best practices are not part of any legal regulations, nor are a grading system for the NGOs. It is not intended to highlight analyzed organization with high scores, however, the main purpose is to promote organizations good practices, acknowledge their opportunity areas, proactivity, and their experience on performing processes with transparency and accountability. <\/span><\/p>\n

9 Standards of Transparency and Best Practices (STBP) for lower income organizations<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The standards of transparency and best practices for NGOs are recommendations from Confio to the organizations in terms of transparency and institutional reinforcement. The Standards were developed considering the international standards suggested by ICFO (International Committee on Fundraising Organizations) and adapted taking into account the Mexican legislation, the specific characteristics of the Mexican non-profit sector. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5126","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5126"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5126\/revisions\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/confio.org.mx\/inicio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}