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Accountability.org: Online Disclosures by U.S. Nonprofits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Joannie Tremblay-Boire and
Aseem Prakash
Joannie Tremblay-Boire*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Washington, 101 Gowen Hall, Box 353530, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Aseem Prakash*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Washington, 101 Gowen Hall, Box 353530, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
*
e-mail: jboire@uw.edu
e-mail: aseem@uw.edu
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Abstract

Why do some nonprofits signal their respect for accountability via unilateral website disclosures? We develop an Accountability Index to examine the websites of 200 U.S. nonprofits ranked in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2010 “Philanthropy 400.” Our intuition is that nonprofits recognize that the “nondistributional constraint” by itself may not generate sufficient trust. We expect nonprofits’ incentives for website disclosures will be shaped by their organizational and sectoral characteristics. Our analyses suggest that nonprofits appearing frequently in newspapers disclose more accountability information while nonprofits larger in size disclose less. Religion-related nonprofits tend to disclose less information, suggesting that religious bonding enhances trust and reduces incentives for self-disclosure. Nonprofits in the health sector disclose less information, arguably because governmental regulations in which they are embedded reduce marginal benefits from voluntary disclosures. Education nonprofits, on the other hand, tend to disclose more accountability information perhaps because they supply credence goods.

Résumé

Résumé

Pourquoi certaines organisations sans but lucratif manifestent-elles leur respect de la responsabilité par le biais de communications unilatérales sur leur site Web ? Nous développons un indice de responsabilité afin de procéder à l’étude des sites de 200 organisations sans but lucratif américaines classifiées dans la Chronique de la philanthropie 2010, « Philanthropie 400 » . Notre intuition est que ces organisations ont conscience que  « l’exclusion d’une distribution » n’est pas en elle-même susceptible de susciter une confiance suffisante. Nous estimons que les motivations des organisations sans but lucratif en faveur de communications via leur site Web seront élaborées en fonction de leurs caractéristiques organisationnelles et sectorielles. Nos analyses suggèrent que les organisations sans but lucratif qui sont fréquemment mentionnées dans la presse communiquent plus d’informations de responsabilité alors que certaines organisations de plus grande taille limitent ces divulgations. Les œuvres de bienfaisance de nature confessionnelle ont tendance à communiquer moins d’informations, ce qui semble indiquer que le lien religieux optimise la confiance et minimise les incitations en faveur d’une communication spontanée. Les organisations sans but lucratif dans le secteur de la santé divulguent moins d’informations, sans doute parce que les réglementations gouvernementales dont elles relèvent limitent les bénéfices marginaux des communications volontaires. Les organisations éducatives ont par contre tendance à divulguer plus d’informations de responsabilité, peut-être parce qu’elles assurent la fourniture de biens de confiance.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Warum belegen einige Nonprofit-Organisationen ihre Anerkennung der Rechenschaftspflicht durch einseitige Bekanntgaben auf ihren Websites? Wir entwickeln einen Rechenschaftsindex, um die Websites von 200 Nonprofit-Organisationen in den USA zu untersuchen, die 2010 in der Rangliste „Philanthropy 400“des Chronicle of Philanthropy aufgeführt waren. Unsere unmittelbare Erkenntnis ist, dass sich Nonprofit-Organisationen darüber bewusst sind, dass das so genannte „Non-Distributional Constraint“- das Verbot der Gewinnausschüttung an Personen, die die Organisation kontrollieren - allein unter Umständen nicht ausreicht, um Vertrauen zu gewinnen. Wir gehen davon aus, dass die Anreize für Informationsoffenlegungen auf den Websites der Nonprofit-Organisationen von ihren Organisations- und Sektormerkmalen abhängig sind. Unsere Analysen deuten darauf hin, dass Nonprofit-Organisationen, die häufig in Zeitungen thematisiert werden, ausgiebigere Rechenschaftsberichte ablegen, während größere Nonprofit-Organisationen weniger Informationen preisgeben. Nonprofit-Organisationen im religiösen Bereich neigen dazu, weniger Informationen offenzulegen, was darauf schließen lässt, dass eine religiöse Bindung das Vertrauen fördert und die Anreize für eine Selbstauskunft mindert. Nonprofit-Organisationen im Gesundheitswesen geben weniger Informationen bekannt, wohl weil die für sie geltenden Regierungsvorschriften marginale Vorteile einer freiwilligen Offenlegung reduzieren. Nonprofit-Organisationen im Bildungsbereich hingegen neigen dazu, mehr Informationen offenzulegen, vielleicht weil sie Vertrauensgüter anbieten.

Resumen

Resumen

¿Por qué algunas organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro señalan su respeto a la rendición de cuentas mediante divulgaciones unilaterales en páginas Web? Desarrollamos un Índice de Rendición de Cuentas para examinar las páginas Web de 200 organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro estadounidenses clasificadas en el “Philanthropy 400” de 2010 del Chronicle of Philanthropy. Intuimos que las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro reconocen que la “restricción de no distribuir beneficios” por sí misma puede no generar suficiente confianza. Suponemos que los incentivos de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro para realizar divulgaciones en páginas Web se basarán en sus características organizativas y sectoriales. Nuestro análisis sugieren que las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro que aparecen frecuentemente en periódicos divulgan más información sobre rendición de cuentas, aunque las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro de tamaño más grande divulgan menos. Las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro relacionadas con la religión divulgan menos información, lo que sugiere que la vinculación religiosa aumenta la confianza y reduce los incentivos de auto-divulgación. Las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en el sector sanitario divulgan menos información. Podría decirse que esto se debe a que las reglamentaciones gubernamentales en las que están integradas reducen los beneficios marginales de las divulgaciones voluntarias. Las organizaciones educativas sin ánimo de lucro, por otro lado, tienden a divulgar más información sobre rendición de cuentas quizás debido a que suministran bienes de confianza.

Chinese

Chinese

为什么一些非营利组织要通过网页单方面披露的方式表示他们对责任的尊重?我们设计了“责任指数”,从2010年《慈善纪事》(Chronicle of Philanthropy)排名前400位的慈善组织中,选取200家美国非营利组织,对其网页进行检测。 凭直觉,我们认为,非营利组织认识到其自身的“禁止分配原则”(non-distributional constraint)并无法产生足够的信任。我们预测,网络披露的成因,将由非营利组织的组织与部门特性决定。通过分析,我们发现,经常出现在报纸上的非营利组织,披露更多责任信息,而规模较大的非营利组织则披露得较少。与宗教相关的非营利组织通常披露较少的信息,意味着宗教关系加强了信任,从而降低了自我披露的动力。医疗卫生领域的非营利组织也披露较少的信息,或许这是因为政府对其规管降低了其自愿披露的边际效益。相反,教育领域的非营利组织则通常披露更多责任信息,或许这是由于其提供的服务属于信任品(credence goods)。

Japanese

Japanese

なぜ非営利団体は、一方的なウェブサイトの開示に対する説明責任を尊重するのか。説明責任インデックスを用いて、慈善の記録 2010の「フィランソロピー 400」にランクされた米国非営利団体200団体のウェブサイトを検討する。非営利団体の認識では、「非分配制約」が十分な信頼関係を構築しないことを考察する。ウェブサイトの情報開示における非営利団体のインセンティブは組織と部門の特性によって形成される。分析から、大きな非営利団体が開示をあまりしないのに対して、新聞に頻繁に出てくる非営利団体はより説明責任を開示することがわかった。宗教関連の非営利団体は、宗教的な結合の信頼を高めて自己開示のためのインセンティブの削減を示唆しており、少ない情報を開示する傾向がある。保健セクターの非営利団体は、政府の規制が自主的な開示における利点を減らすために少ない情報を開示する。

Arabic

Arabic

لماذا بعض المنظمات الغير ربحية تشير إلى إحترامها للمساءلة عن طريق الكشف عن الموقع من جانب واحد ؟ نحن نضع فهرس المساءلة لفحص مواقع 200من المنظمات الأمريكية غير الربحية تم تصنيفها في وقائع العمل الخيري عام 2010 “العمل الخيري 400”. توقعنا أن المنظمات الغير ربحية تدرك أن “ القيود الغير توزيعية “ في حد ذاتها قد لا تولد الثقة الكافية. نتوقع أن الحوافز الغير ربحية لإفصاحات الموقع سوف يتم تشكيلها من قبل الخصائص التنظيمية والقطاعية. تحليلاتنا تشير إلى أن المنظمات الغير ربحية التي تظهر بشكل متكرر في الصحف تكشف عن مزيد من معلومات المساءلة بينما المنظمات الغير ربحية التي في حجم أكبر تكشف عن أقل. المنظمات الغير ربحية ذات الصلة بالدين تميل إلى الكشف عن معلومات أقل ، مما يوحي بأن الترابط الديني يعزز الثقة و يقلل الحوافز للكشف عن الذات. المنظمات الغير ربحية في القطاع الصحي تكشف عن معلومات أقل ، يمكن القول بسبب اللوائح الحكومية التي هي جزء لا يتجزأ تقلل من الفوائد الهامشية من الإفصاحات التطوعية. منظمات التعليم الغير ربحية ، من ناحية أخرى ، تميل إلى الكشف عن مزيد من معلومات المساءلة ربما لأنها تقوم بتوريد سلع المصداقية .

Keywords

AccountabilityWebsite disclosuresInternetTransparency

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , April 2015, pp. 693 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2014

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Footnotes

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 2011 biennial Public Management Research Association (PMRA) conference and the 2011 annual ARNOVA conference.

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