The Who Counts? Campaign advocates financial reporting to beneficiaries as a driver of NGOs impact. Using this information beneficiaries can make sure that funds are spent on their real priorities.

It also profiles evidence from case studies that shows how this has reduced fraud, improved impact and empowered local people.

Some simple techniques can help NGOs make information accessible to people from all different backgrounds.

http://www.mango.org.uk/whocounts/

GAN-Net is a growing community of GAN leaders, researchers, funders and other stakeholders who are committed to developing global action networks that serve the public good. Participants learn and work together to build the capacity of GANs to cultivate partnerships, steward initiatives, and achieve results. GAN-Net participants also collaborate to advance the collective influence of global networks to improve social, economic, and environmental outcomes worldwide.

GAN-Net and Keystone are close collaborators. Both are co-leading the Impact Community of Practice (ICOP) of GAN-Net which has the general objective, through research, peer-learning and capacity building of its members, to address the pressing issues of planning, measuring, monitoring, evaluating and reporting impacts faced by Global Action Networks.

The growing prominence of civil society on the world stage brings with it a greater public responsibility and accountability. The CIVICUS Legitimacy and Transparency Programme aims to enhance the legitimacy, transparency and accountability of civil society organisations (CSOs) as well as public trust in these organisations by improving their individual and collective governance.

This programme builds on past CIVICUS commitments promoting ethical practice and agreed codes of conduct for CSOs, as well as donors, governments and business. It also relates to wider CIVICUS efforts to promote new, more participative and accountable models of governance and partnership.

CIVICUS further recognises the need for a broader, more systematic effort to respond to the challenges of legitimacy. In a climate where CSOs are increasingly pressured to perform or perish, legitimacy is a fundamental issue, especially for those organisations lacking a clear constituency or membership base. The programme therefore aims to build the capacity of CSOs to respond to challenges to their roots, authority and right to speak on behalf of broader constituencies.

The Legitimacy and Transparency Programme will help to develop a shared understanding of these issues and thereby inform an international consensus on CSO legitimacy. Ultimately this will strengthen the influence and public standing of CSOs, and their ability to act effectively, with integrity for the public good.

The NGO Accountability Forum is an informal assembly of local, national and international non-governmental organizations based in the UK committed to working together for more accountable NGOs. The Forum offers its participants the opportunity to collectively better understand, articulate and, ultimately, strengthen NGO accountability.

The Forum aims to:

1. Promote good NGO accountability practice;
2. Assist participants to increase and improve their own accountability and the accountability of their partners;
3. Monitor and share information about trends in accountability in general and NGO accountability in particular;
4. Foster cooperation and inclusiveness by bringing NGOs together to share information, facilitate joint action and develop strategic relationships;
5. Promote cooperation, transparency and partnerships between local, national and international NGOs based in the UK. 

The Institute for Governance and Accountabilities (IGA), Alexandria and Blacksburg, is a research center at Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs. IGA conducts social science research on effective leadership, governance, accountability and management of nonprofit and public organizations. The Institute also provides research-driven programming directly to civil society organizations, foundations, public agencies and global multilateral institutions.

A central project of IGA is the Nonprofit Excellence Initiative (NPEI) which involves research in four core areas related to nonprofit and/or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs):

The mission of the Citizen Base Initiative is to change the way the sector mobilizes resources from reliance on a small group of international and governmental funders to adiversified base of local support. 

http://www.citizenbase.org/ 

Changemakers is a national public foundation that models and supports community-based social change philanthropy. We work within the philanthropic sector to shift WHERE money is directed -- to address root causes of social and environmental problems -- and HOW it is given, urging individual donors and philanthropic organizations to become more accountable, strategic, inclusive, collaborative, democratic, and creative.

http://www.changemakers.org/index1.htm

Social Edge has become a site where social entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals, philanthropists and other practitioners of the social sector connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources. The site strikes a balance between the visionary and the practical, with its spirited discussions and online workshops and features. Social Edge remains committed to fostering frank dialogue, building mutual respect and creating a sense of community among those in the social sector.

http://www.socialedge.org/index.html

"Value is what gets created when investors invest and organizations act to pursue their mission. Traditionally, we have thought of value as being either economic (and created by for-profit companies) or social (and created by nonprofit or non-governmental organizations). What the Blended Value Proposition states is that all organizations, whether for-profit or not, create value that consists of economic, social and environmental value components—and that investors (whether market-rate, charitable or some mix of the two) simultaneously generate all three forms of value through providing capital to organizations.

The outcome of all this activity is value creation and that value is itself non-divisible and, therefore, a blend of these three elements."