The South China Morning Post recently published
an article on Welfare NGOs disclosure of the salaries of
the top salaried employees.
I fully agree that charity accountability is important to
maintain public trust and confidence in the work of NGOs.
Funders and donors should know where the money is going.
Yet, the salary of the CEO is not the most important piece
of information that can tell whether public money is being
used responsibly. Donors should be looking at the overall
financial status and set up of the Welfare NGOs, that may
include their net assets, their income source, the amount
and proportion of their expenditures devoted to service activities,
central administration and fundraising costs.
Donors should also be interested to know who is responsible
for overseeing the financial and operations of these welfare
NGOs. Governance information like who sits on the Board of
these welfare NGOs and whether these Board members are salaried
and at what level, are also key accountability information.
The 130 Welfare NGOs on the Wisegiving list, a web platform
launched by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, do disclose
such information for public scrutiny that benchmark international
disclosure standards.
Moreover, those welfare NGOs that receive government funding
are subject to monitoring and accountability required by
the government. These welfare NGOs have to submit annual
audited financial reports and receive regular management
and financial audit from the Social Welfare Department, which
include reporting the pay of their top three salaried employees
annually to the Department. If the public is concerned about
the salaries of NGOs staff are paid out of proportion, there
is a government rule on "no better off than similar government
posts".
Welfare NGOs may not have responded upfront to a press enquiry
on the pay of their CEOs, but this should not be taken singly
as "a disregard for the community it serves" described in
the SCMP's Editorial of "We need to know where our money
is going"
Charity accountability should be on being transparent about
how public resources are put to good use, being cost effective
and being responsible for decisions on the deployment of
these resources. The social welfare sector is accountable
and open to government and public scrutiny. As welfare NGOs
strive towards higher transparency and public accountability,
they should be supported to develop a more objective disclosure
system that can benchmark international standards and satisfy
local expectations.
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