ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN THE NONPROFITS: EVIDENCES FROM ONLINE CROWDFUNDING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Through accountability, organizations provide key information for stakeholders enabling the latter to make an informed assessment of organizational performance. To achieve transparency, organizations must make information accessible and timely. During the crisis, as in the COVID-19 pandemic period, accurate accountability and transparency practices are most necessary so stakeholders can make informed decisions in an ongoing complex emergency. This study uses data available in an online crowdfunding platform to investigate to what extent are nonprofits implementing accountability and transparency policies regarding applications for funds published during the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study methodology is applied for providing evidence that nonprofits are not timely implementing transparency policies regarding fundraising campaigns. Nevertheless, results identify, in some cases, innovative accountability practices which impact funds raised must further be analyzed. These findings open up further investigations on the accountability of nonprofits during the crisis and on the online organizational transparency regarding fundraising.