Transparency in Action: A Checklist for Building Trust in Your Nonprofit

In popular perception, transparency between a nonprofit organization and its key players means publicly sharing information about revenue, leadership and programs. But the ongoing practice of building trust among stakeholders goes far beyond dollars and tax documents. It’s about activating your transparency from passive communication to action, which in turn elevates trust.

Why Nonprofit Transparency Matters

Transparency ensures that staff members, volunteers, donors and program participants know what’s going on in your organization. Trust ensures that these same stakeholders are not only aware but are confident that your organization is looking out for their best interest. To achieve baseline success in your mission, people must know what the shared goal is and their role in achieving it. To deepen this transparency into trust, organizations must show their ability to adapt with accountability, meet the community’s changing needs and include their voices in the process.

It is critical to ensure that your donor relationships trust you with their investment, your staff trust leadership to advance the impact of your organization and that your program participants feel your organization’s goals are aligned with their needs. Without the trust of those who matter most to your work, you risk losing valuable partnerships and participation, harming your overall mission and impact.

How to Use This Checklist for Nonprofit Transparency

To best equip you and your organization, seasoned consultants from the Alford Group team gathered their recommendations into a Nonprofit Transparency Checklist. This checklist focuses on the essential practices and tools that you can enact in your organization to establish transparency with your teams and community. First, we share immediate actions you can take to ensure transparency in the short term. Then we dive into long-term systems and processes to implement that work toward the goal of building trust within and around your organization.

Actionable Steps for Nonprofit Transparency

Building transparency within your organization and those who support it isn’t something that will happen overnight. But there are some things that you and your organization can start doing today to help build a strong foundation for trust over time.

1. Show your receipts.

Ensure that information about your organization is accessible to staff, volunteers, donors and the public. Making your 990, audited financials and annual report easily accessible on your website removes the burden of stakeholders searching for this information on their own. This is low-hanging fruit to demonstrate that your organization is committed to transparency.

2. Communicate consistently and adaptively.

Today’s current, philanthropic landscape is in constant flux— and your key stakeholders understand this. Let go of the pressure to appear ‘perfect’ and focus instead on being honest and transparent. Share the organization’s status openly, invite feedback and communicate clearly that the organization is prepared and well-positioned for the future.

Need a place to start? Try scenario planning!

3. Align expectations for all engagements.

Mapping out clear expectations and objectives throughout each board or staff meeting will ensure that all attendees feel prepared and informed about what’s to come. Surprises can be fun—but not when they involve key updates. You don’t want your donors, staff or board members to feel like they’re the last to hear what’s going on within your organization.

4. Feedback sharing is accessible to all.

It is critical to create spaces and processes for feedback where your organization’s leadership is also open to feedback. Carve out time to develop, deploy and review surveys or listening with staff, board and donors.

Ongoing Considerations for Nonprofit Trust

Once you’ve established transparent communication with internal and external stakeholders, these ongoing systems, processes and practices will help you grow trust over time.

1. Establish a cadence and culture of feedback.

Communicate with honesty about how each stakeholder group contributes to your mission and goals and where additional support is needed. Here are some tips for how to cultivate a culture of feedback:

• Use a RACI/DACI tool to clearly outline where, when and how different stakeholders will be involved throughout a process or decision.
• Include diverse voices with intention. Be sure to follow ethical storytelling practices and use strengths-based language in all communications, especially if you are communicating on behalf of a group of people or identity that you don’t belong to. Adopting these practices shows your organization is willing to be held accountable for how you include others and represent someone’s experience when they are not present.
• Normalize conflict and be open to concerns or disagreements. It’s rare for diverse groups who are addressing complex problems to agree on everything all the time. Stakeholders need to know their concerns will be heard and considered, otherwise it can bring doubt that their input truly matters.

2. Break down internal silos.

Create intentional opportunities for staff, board and leadership teams to work together and prevent silos of information and access. Working together de-mystifies assumptions and unknowns about how different teams each contribute to the shared goals of the organization.

• Create mechanisms for cross-pollination and skill-sharing. Whether through organizing regular lunch-and-learns or structuring committees to bring different roles within an organization together, be sure to dedicate time, space (and budget!) for staff, leadership and community members to build deeper relationships with one another. This increases the understanding that is needed for achieving big goals and working through challenges when they arise.
• Explore creative approaches to assigning fundraising portfolio managers. Not only does it breed openness and trust when major donors have more than one point of contact for the organization, but it also ensures that relationships can be maintained through unexpected staff transitions.
• Establish clear avenues for staff to communicate with the board. Inviting staff members to board meetings can be a great way for staff to better understand leadership’s decision-making. It also allows the board to learn from staff about the organization’s programs and day-to-day accomplishments or challenges that should be considered by the board.

3. Make evaluations inclusive.

Establish evaluation processes for staff and board that monitor your organization’s culture, leadership and effectiveness in serving its mission. Not only does this provide an opportunity for input and feedback, but it helps you respond quickly and effectively to any emerging areas needing to be addressed.

• Ensure the evaluation process and structure are evident. It should be clearly understood by people across the organization how information used in evaluations is collected, reviewed and implemented.
• Regularly assess how the community you serve is represented in the organization. The voices of those impacted by your mission need to have a seat at the table, figuratively and literally. Inviting relevant community members to be a part of designing and defining your goals will better inform your planning and create a stronger community for your mission.

Transparency and Trust Will Set You Free

Nonprofits are pulled in several directions at once. A strong foundation of leaders, staff and dedicated donors can make this pull feel more manageable. We’ve shared this checklist of action steps to help you build a strong foundation of trust so your team can work better, not harder, in moving your mission forward.

No one person can do this work alone, and we are all better humans when we can trust that others have our back. In an increasingly divisive world, this is truer than ever, but nonprofit organizations have a unique potential to become beacons of trust in our communities. It may seem daunting, but starting with small steps can lead to immensely valuable shifts in the long run.

In the meantime, trust the process.