Origins

Beginning in 2001, the then Director of Civil Society Programmes for the Aga Khan Foundation, David Bonbright, initiated a series of meetings that focused on the opportunity to establish new measurement and reporting practices for social change that would radically increase the volume and impact of investment in community based organizations and social entrepreneurs. In October 2003 a group of sponsors published an Inception Report that called for the establishment of the ACCESS initiative (now Keystone) "to increase significantly the quality and quantity of social investment – donations, grants, in-kind support, volunteering, loans and equity -- for sustainable development by and for the world’s poor." The Inception Report looked to the creation of a generally accepted reporting standard for civil society organizations as the lead element in an ongoing, inclusive, open and participatory process of promoting accountability and social investment.

Funding

After the Inception Report was published, several milestones toward the establishment of the initiative were quickly passed. The Aga Khan Foundation seconded David Bonbright to the initiative from March 2004, potential investors were engaged and new operational partnerships were forged. Initial seed grant capital secured from the Omidyar Network and Hewlett Foundation allowed Keystone [then known as ACCESS] to take root and develop a structure to deliver its mission.

Governance

The sponsors took the view that Keystone should operate as a multi-stakeholder, self-governing initiative during its early design and demonstration stage and that the organizational structure and business model should be allowed to emerge from its work. AccountAbility was identified as a host organization amenable to these conditions. In September 2004, Keystone began operations from a base at AccountAbility with David Bonbright as sole staff member. Other senior staff were confirmed quickly, and in October 2004, Keystone senior staff (including Gavin Andersson, Alejandro Litovsky and Andre Proctor), sponsors, field partners and key stakeholders met in Cape Vidal, South Africa for a three-day "Bosberaad" to review and strengthen the initial plans. Among other things, the Bosberaad conferees gave birth to a small Executive Committee that would function as a governing board for the project. 

Initial activities

From late 2004 through mid-2005, Keystone created and strengthened its management team and operating systems, began field-based pilot activities to create the Keystone reporting model, and engaged in a range of learning dialogue and networking activities in an increasingly vibrant international discourse on civil society accountability, including its first activities at the World Social Forum, International Forum of Montreal, Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Global Summit, European Venture Philanthropy Association Annual European Meeting.

Partners

Keystone comprises diverse partners which are key to the social change ecosystem, including technical expertise, grassroots organizations, giving markets, and social investment brokers.

A core alliance of organizations from among these building blocks has formed comprising seed capital investors (Omidyar Network and Hewlett Foundation), technical experts (AccountAbility, ActKnowledge and Virginia Tech’s Institute for Governance and Accountabilities), major national clusters of grassroots programmes (Nelson Mandela Foundation and Philippine Council for NGO Certification), giving marketplaces (GlobalGiving, GreaterGood South Africa, Shuttleworth/Giving Exchange (South Africa), GIVE Foundation (India), Global Exchange for Social Investment (Europe), and national grantmaker networks (Southern Africa Grantmakers’ Association). Together, these organizations form a system of purpose to create and demonstrate the Keystone model while simultaneously building the networks of relationship and intellectual capital required to roll it out after August 2006.

See our complete list of our initial partners

Attachment	Size
Keystone Inception Report_2003.pdf	901.52 KB
An Introduction to Keystone_2004.pdf	383.5 KB
Keystone Sponsors_2003.pdf	93.74 KB