GuideStar International. Annual Report

Transcription

1 GuideStar International Annual Report

2 2008 Table of contents Message from CEO Trustees About GuideStar International Principal achievements for fiscal year 2008 Programme Update Emerging GuideStars GuideStar Europe Feasibility Assessment European Mapping Project GSI and UN-ECA Project GuideStar UK GuideStar Data Services Technology GSI Assembly 2008 Financial Overview

3 03 MESSAGE FROM THE CEO With a growing complement of committed national and regional partners, the palpable enthusiasm of global stakeholders at our annual assembly in December and genuine progress with respect to national and regional programmes and our own institutional development, GuideStar International (GSI) concludes 2008 on a high note. We also learned some important lessons with respect to operating challenges that compel us to alter strategies and recalibrate objectives for the coming year. Further, these strategies and objectives have been developed in the context of the rapidly declining global economic environment that will make concrete progress towards these objectives a first priority. Message from the CEO On a very positive note, I can report that GSI was able to assemble a proper operating team by the mid-year. It includes strong managerial and technological resources in all critical aspects of our work. The quality of GSI s relations with national partners continues to grow rapidly and the successful completion of the European Commission-funded European feasibility project positions us well to make launch several GuideStar services during While 2009 s expected operating environment will present new challenges, GuideStar Data Services, GSI s new trading subsidiary, made significant progress in both serving critical GuideStar constituencies and in generating a six fold increase in earned revenue versus the previous 12 months. But the creation of GDS did cause unforeseen complications. The unanticipated need to assemble an entirely new technology team to handle GSI s charitable activity delayed the completion of several national and global projects as well as necessary attention to improvements, both with respect to features and utilisation of the free GuideStar UK site. We have been fortunate to have had adequate financial resources to weather these machinations and establish the solid operating capability and prospects for progress we bring to Like every other charity, GSI will face a difficult funding environment during But we enter the year with the knowledge that our team, technology, relationships and operating prospects are strong and that society s need for our efforts to illuminate the work of the world s charities, nonprofits, NGOs and other civil society organisations has never been greater. Buzz Schmidt Chief Executive Officer

4 04 Trustees Trustees Luc Tayart de Borms GSI Chair Managing Director King Baudouin Foundation Buzz Schmidt Chief Executive GuideStar International Virginia Hodgkinson Retired Professor Georgetown University Anne Wade Senior Vice President Capital International Brian Smouha Trustee Institute for Philanthropy Martin Thomas Non-executive Chairman Lancashire Holding Limited Mathew Cherian Chief Executive HelpAge India Diana Wells President Ashoka Stuart Etherington Chief Executive National Council for Voluntary Organisations Miklos Marcshall Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Transparency International

5 About GuideStar International 0511 Achievements About GSI GuideStar International (GSI) works with leaders of civil society throughout the world to build a network of national online GuideStar services that report the aims, activities, accomplishments and finances of each country s civil society organisations (CSOs). GuideStar International s work is premised upon the belief that every national society gains from a diverse population of innovative, energetic, well-resourced and responsive CSOs. We further believe that transparency achieved through the provision of clear and thorough reports about each CSO at a public website is vital to ensure the strength and success of this civil society. These convictions form the basis for, and heart of, the GuideStar proposition. GuideStar services are used extensively by grant-makers, individual donors, researchers, trustees, policy makers, the media, general public, and the CSOs themselves to make decisions, allocate resources and otherwise pursue their work on behalf of society more confidently and effectively. GSI has its roots in the United States with the founding of the first GuideStar service in By 2000 GuideStar ( had established itself as an essential resource for American philanthropy and nonprofit practice and the leading source of information about American nonprofits. In 2002 the process of building GuideStar UK ( began. Launched in 2005, GuideStar UK is the first place to look for comprehensive information about every charity in England and Wales. In response to growing global interest in the GuideStar model, the founder and others active in the development of the early GuideStars established GuideStar International in Today GSI ( pursues development projects in ten countries throughout Europe, Africa and Asia and operates the flagship GuideStar UK national service. Further, it maintains a common, comprehensive technology platform for use by all countries, pursues a broadly-informed initiative to evolve a common reporting framework for CSOs, serves as secretariat for the GuideStar Alliance of the national initiatives, and promotes the effective use of CSO information in stakeholder decision-making. 1 T hrough these private organisations, variously known as N G O s, CBO s, charities, nonprofits, etc., citizens combine to pursue and promote a broad range of initiatives for the public good.

6 06 11 Achievements Emerging GuideStars Programme Update 2008 saw continued and growing interest in the GuideStar model worldwide and we are proud of the quality of our partnerships with leading civil society and international organisations at national and regional levels. Diverse, but generally poor, CSO reporting and disclosure practices around the world continue to be a challenge for GSI and our partners. However, the year saw significant consolidation in several countries with respect to the development of implementation plans, construction of pilot websites and increased support for national and regional initiatives from CSOs, government regulators and other key stakeholders. The funding environment remains challenging for all programmes and will be an important focus for us all during The demand for good quality, comprehensive and consistent information on the activities, structures and finances of CSOs is strong however and we remain confident that the GuideStar model fills an information vacuum to enable the development of strong civil societies. Some of the programmatic highlights of 2008 are described below. Emerging GuideStars By the end of the year, GSI had developed partnerships with principal national and regional civil society leaders in 11 countries around the world: South Africa with SANGONet Canada with Imagine Canada and Canada Helps India with Credibility Alliance and Murray Culshaw Consulting South Korea with Kids & Future Foundation Israel with Yad Hanadiv Hungary with Non Profit Information and Training Centre (NIOK) Ireland with Irish Charities Tax Research Ltd (ICTR) Germany with the German Institute for Social Issues (DZI) The Netherlands with the Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF) Belgium with the King Baudouin Foundation United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA)

7 2 07 GuideStar Europe GuideStar Europe Feasibility Assessment The first phase of the GuideStar Europe project was successfully completed in December The 18 month project, funded by the European Commission s Eten programme and in several cases by governmental, private sector and philanthropy sources in partner countries, assessed the feasibility of implementing the GuideStar model in 4 countries; Ireland, the Netherlands, Hungary and Germany. The key outputs of the project were: Market Analyses were conducted in the first months of the project. They identified a substantial need for the service, especially at the country level. This exercise also established that information sourced from government filings is limited in most EU member states, but that CSOs themselves are willing to provide additional information via online self-reporting. Localisation, User and Market Testing using GuideStar International s Common Technology Platform, has informed the adaptation of technology, data acquisition, and stakeholder engagement strategies. Deployment plans, focusing on data acquisition and business operations, have been drafted in each of the four countries as well as for the pan-european initiative. All four country programmes intend to continue to work towards the launch of a GuideStar service in their respective countries. These nationally owned, operated and governed systems will serve as the backbone of an eventual European search facility. GuideStar International will continue to develop additional country-based programmes along with the pan-european system. Continuous stakeholder engagement and communications initiated during the project will continue to be an important element in promoting CSO transparency and accountability, and will determine the role of GuideStar in enabling a more robust third sector across Europe. The project made clear that the GuideStar model is a valuable tool for tackling the issue of CSO transparency in these four countries and also has applicability for other European countries and beyond. Next Steps Ultimately, GuideStar Europe will draw together into a single relational database, current and pertinent information about the entire civil society sector in the European Union. This will enhance transparency and accountability and create a knowledge infrastructure for the sector and its stakeholders across Europe. The next phase of the GuideStar Europe project will include both a roll out of the GuideStar model to more countries and a launch of a pan-european search capability, which is expected to have a lasting consequence for the transparency and roles of CSOs in Europe.

8 08 ETEN Project Review The consortium expressed a strong interest in sustaining the service at both the European and National level... After deployment of the European service the team should actively promote a new European policy in this area. ETEN, GuideStar Europe Project Review discussing the

9 09 15 EFC Project and UN-ECA Project European Mapping Project with European Foundation Centre A project to map CSO regulatory frameworks, reporting requirements and information disclosure of all EU member states was conducted by GSI in partnership with the European Foundation Centre between January and April This mapping work complemented the more detailed feasibility assessments being undertaken in 4 European countries as part of the eten programme and have helped GSI develop an in-depth understanding of the potential for the development of GuideStar services at national and regional levels in Europe. This work is also complemented by a mapping study for a further 16 countries worldwide undertaken by the Overseas Development Institute and GSI staff. GSI and UN-ECA project GSI and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) announced in August 2008 a joint venture to develop a free web portal for African civil society organisations using the GuideStar model, which will showcase the work of all NGOs, charities, nonprofit organisations and community based organisations from the smallest to the largest. The UNECA and GSI are collaborating with national registrars and regulators, as well as civil society umbrella groups and associations to populate the portal with information on all legally registered charities, NGOs and nonprofits in each participating country. The project will map data availability in 7 countries, build the required relationships with national partners and develop a pilot site to demonstrate the service to stakeholders.

10 10 GuideStar Africa - UN-ECA UN-ECA is embarking on this project because we believe in the fundamental importance of strong, vibrant and responsive civil societies. We seek to ensure that the work of these vital organisations is revealed and enabled. We believe that the GuideStar System will provide a tried and tested means for the provision of transparent information on the objectives, activities, accomplishments and finances of nonprofits. Such transparency is critical to elicit public trust in these organisations, thereby also attracting a more generous and accountable allocation of society s resources. Jalal Abdel-Latif, Chief of the Civil Society Section Governance and Public Administration Division United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

11 16 11 GuideStar UK GuideStar UK The visibility of GuideStar UK continued to grow during the year, demonstrating its increasing role and the value of information to support the UK charity sector. Beneficiaries of GuideStar UK data In 2008: Traffic increased by 50% on the previous year from 349,000 visits to 525,000. An effective marketing campaign implemented in August 2008 resulted in a 30% month on month increase to 52,000 visits per month. Charities recognised the value of the Update My Charity facility. By the end of the year 31,973 charities had accessed their report. The Community Foundation Northern Ireland agreed to host the initial pilot phase of developing a GuideStar for Northern Ireland initially using a model similar to the GuideStar Ireland system. Assessments of the feasibility for including Scottish charities in the UK service were also initiated. GuideStar Data Services Government Policy makers Regulators Third parties Professionals Financial institutions Charities Researchers Statisticians Academics Individual donors Institutional donors Grantmakers Policy analysts Third party data service providers Evaluators Accreditation agencies On 31 January, 2008, GSI founded a wholly owned Community Interest Company, GuideStar Data Services. GDS was formed to pursue opportunities for distributing GuideStar UK data under commercial contracts. Using GuideStar UK data, GDS seeks to become the definitive source of Third Sector data used by professionals in the public and private sectors. Its vision is to be the driving force of a more effective non-profit marketplace through the routine use of objective, authoritative and comparable information. GDS launched a dedicated website in November 2008 to provide information about its products and services and to serve its customers directly with online products and services. In 2008, GDS exceeded 580,000 in sales revenue, which was more than three times the previous year s mark (reported under its precursor entity GuideStar UK) As operating costs were under 1.3 million compared to approximately 1.1 million in the previous year, the net cost of the activity was reduced in the period. This was in line with the directors business plan and was financed by the loan of 799,758 from GSI. This loan is repayable from profits of future periods. GDS served more than 70 individual clients with data sets, reports, analysis, and online applications. These services allowed GDS s clients to use GuideStar UK data to better understand and serve their nonprofit constituents and other stakeholders.

12 GSI Annual Report Use of GuideStar Data (NCVO) We use GuideStar a lot to market our services but also to analyse the nature of civil society. That is very important to us. It underpins quite a lot of our research, so we have a very parochial interest in it. But the broader interest is the value of transparency. Stuart Etherington GSI Trustee Chair, National Council for Voluntary Organisations

13 13 Technology Technology The global Common Technology Platform (CTP) is a web-based reporting and presentation framework developed by GuideStar International. This platform is a culmination of three years of work, taking significant learning and experience from the proven GuideStar UK platform and from our engagements with stakeholders around the world. Version 3 of the CTP is robust enough to power GuideStar programmes across the world in a variety of languages and reporting schemas. In essence, the CTP is advanced technology informed by partners worldwide and national reporting frameworks that provides a solid foundation to support national GuideStar portals. The platform is significantly customisable, supports multiplelanguages and supports both CSOs as well as the country administrators, to manage website content and data for their purposes. Country administrators (a term used to define the individual, group of individuals, or country representatives that will manage the delivery and continuing support of the GuideStar programme in the respective country), will have direct control over static display content through a robust content management system (developed inhouse). Upon delivery, users will be able to both input data through a simple yet robust interface and search the database using various search criteria. The features of the programme include: a. Flexibility Core system configuration and reporting and presentation frameworks are flexible enough to satisfy the differing needs of many countries. b. Cost Effectiveness Hosting and maintenance will be conducted from a central service center, greatly reducing these costs on a per-country basis. c. Powerful Search Engine A powerful search engine delivering intelligent results, with a customisable algorithm. d. Fully Internationalised and Localised Enabling all languages, character sets, currencies and labels to be display in the correct localised format. The centralised platform includes all necessary network infrastructure and database development. This configuration will host individual member websites, including a data capture interface, search engine, and display pages.

14 14 GSI Assembly GSI Staff and Country Partners at the GuideStar International Assembly 2008 GSI Assembly 2008 was brought to a successful and energising end for the GSI team with our annual assembly which welcomed 90 partners and supporters from a total of 20 countries. The assembly was entitled From Local to Global: The Importance of CSO information for citizen engagement and gathered leaders from CSOs, government, research and international agencies that are working to strengthen civil society at national, regional and global levels. panelist from left to right The impact of new media on CSOs and the reporting of their work Diana Wells, President, Ashoka Donna Callejon, COO, Global Giving Francis Hobbs, Director, Force for Good, Westbrook International Bob Ottenhoff, CEO, GuideStar (US) Rhetoric to reality: developing a GuideStar Africa strategy Jalal Abdel Latif, Chief of Civil Society Section, Governance and Public Administration, UN Economic Commission for Africa Miklos Marschall, Regional Director for Europe and Central AsiaTransparency International David Barnard, Executive Director, SANGONet Fletcher Tembo, Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute Key Note Speaker Chris Hoenig President State of the USA What should CSOs report? Chair: Jacob Harold, Programme Officer, Hewlett Foundation Buzz Schmidt, CEO, GuideStar International Martin Brookes, Executive Director, New Philanthropy Capital Louise Holmes, Development Director Europe, Room to Read Engaging citizens in policy and social action: The role of information and technology Virginia Hodgkinson, Retired Professor, Georgetown University Enrico Giovannini, Chief Statistician and Statistics Director, OECD Lalit Kumar, Joint Adviser, Voluntary Action, Planning Commission, India Nilda Bullain, Executive Director, European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law Jalal Abdel-Latif, Chief of Civil Society Section, Governance and Public Administration Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa

15 15 FIinancial Statement Financial Overview The audited financial statements accompanying this report reflect the consolidated operations of GuideStar International (GSI), a UK registered charity, and GuideStar Data Services (GDS), a wholly owned Community Interest Company. GDS was founded on 30 January 2008 after which its accounts were kept entirely separately from those of the charity. For the month of January, the costs associated with GDS s operations were accounted for in the charity s accounts. As noted in GSI s 2007 TAR, part of the 3 million grant from The Philanthropic Collaborative (TPC) was designated by the GSI trustees as a line of credit to fund GDS s start up activities. At the date of GDS s founding the balance of that designated fund was 879,108, which represented the amount of principle available for use by GDS under the terms of the loan agreement. At 31 December 2008 the designated fund had a balance of 182,979. The terms of this note call for principle and interest payments to commence on 31 March, The financial performance of the enterprise over the course of 2008 followed the budgeted projections very closely. GDS s sales, while somewhat under budget, were balanced against lower-than-projected expenses, such that the net experience for the CIC was within 15% of budgeted projections. With respect to the charity, the early acquisition of the TPC grant, together with the other revenue items, supported the budgeted operations for the year. Costs in the charity came in under budgeted projections. This attention to cost control throughout 2008 allowed the enterprise to end the year with a positive fund balance of over 800,000, which represents a solid foundation for our continuing activities entering Given the uncertain economic environment we are facing this year, cost control will continue to be a focus across the entire organisation. We are also actively pursuing both public and private sources of income for the charity, while the CIC is continuing to increase its reach in the marketplace for third-sector data in the UK.

16 16 Income and Expenditure Consolidated Statement of Financial Activity Year End 31 December 2008 Incoming Resources Other income eten grant Investment income Data sales income Voluntary income Incoming Resources From generated funds - Voluntary Income 1,229,159 - Data Sales Income 580,862 - Investment Income 57,434 From charitable activities - eten grant 47,024 Other Income 25,946 Total Incoming Resources 1,940,425 Resources Expended Governance Expenditure Resources Expended Cost of generating voluntary income Information services programme GSI Programme Cost of generating funds - Cost of generating voluntary income 86,056 - Data sales expenditure 755,984 Charitable activities - GSI programme 1,037,910 - Information services programme 594,069 Governance expenditure 22,711 Net Incoming (Outgoing) Resources (556,305) Fund Balances Beginning of Year 1,358,891 Fund Balances End of Year 802,586 Data sales expenditure

17 17 Financial Times Some online resources are well established. M GuideStar and GuideStar International provide web-based databases of many thousands of non-profit organisations, allowing users to search for information about a specific charity or look for organisations working in an area of interest, such as healthcare or humanitarian relief. Sarah Murray The age of cyberspace offers aids for giving Financial Times February

18 Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) GuideStar International Queens House Lincoln s Inn Fields London, WC2A 3LJ United Kingdom info@guidestarinternational.org Charity number: Company reg number: