Transparency and Public Trust

Transparency and Public Trust

Misuse of funds is not the only thing that can cause problems with public trust. It is important for any organization that uses volunteers or takes donations to be transparent and accountable to the public. Organizations can take specific steps to assure that they are transparent and accountable in their actions. It is up to human services administrators to provide transparency and accountability for their organizations.
For this Assignment, select a human services administrator from this week’s video. Think of one example of how he or she provided transparency and accountability for his or her organization. Consider steps you as a human services administrator might take to provide transparency and accountability to the public for an organization with which you are associated or one with which you are familiar.
The assignment Transparency and Public Trust (3 pages): Holly is the administrator I chose from the video. A copy of the transcript is below to use. These are two references I would like you to use also at the bottom of the page.
• Identify the human services administrator and briefly share one example of how he or she provided transparency and accountability for his or her organization.
• Explain three steps that you, as a human services administrator, can take to provide transparency and accountability to the public for an organization with which you are associated or one with which you are familiar.
• Share an insight you had regarding any differences in the way that you might provide transparency and accountability in comparison to the human services administrator you selected from this week’s video.
HOLLY HOEY: We’re much more under a microscope than other organizations and the private sector. I think that we are kind of scrutinized a little bit more, because we deal with public trusts so much more. And I think all of us would probably agree that without public trusts, we wouldn’t exist. I mean really, without people trusting in us and our volunteers trusting in us to fulfill the mission, to be a good steward, we wouldn’t be in existence. So we raise a total of about $34 million from over 100,000 donors. So talking about public trusts, individuals are investing in United Way, giving us their confidential information, their credit card information, and saying, “I trust in you. I think United Way is the most efficient and effective way to give. Here’s my money, now I know and I trust United Way what they’re going to do with it, and they’re going to help people in need.” At United Way, every employee and every board member has to sign a code of ethics. That’s just to start out. We have to sign a code of ethics every year that basically says that we’re going to uphold the highest ethical standards with ourselves and with the community. So I think that in terms of public trust and transparency, it’s something that we hold to the highest standards and it’s something that we continuously are in front of. When we talked in the first session about partnerships and collaboration, we collaborate and partner with wonderful, wonderful organizations in this community. And at times, we do events or we do programatic work. And at times, the organization would call us and say, “Hey, we have an event going. Can we mail out the invitations to this select group of donors?” Well something at United Way that we really hold true to our hearts and that we really take pride in, is that when a donor gives us their information that is their personal information. That is information that is confidential and that we feel is served for internal purposes only. Several staff members were very uncomfortable with this. So what we had to do was, to prevent any unethical situations happening, is we had to create a policy that basically says that the information that we gain from donors is strictly for internal purposes. And that really is important, as it pertains to public trusts.
HOLLY HOEY: It’s critical. And I’ve seen organizations where they’ve had a breach of contract or trust in that organizations can fail, and because they didn’t handle it the right way. I think it’s critical that if there is an ethical situation that it’s how you respond and how transparent you are from the beginning, and how you rebuild trust with your donors. And as you were saying, that it can take years and years to build trust, and one situation for that trust to go away. It really is about integrity, trust, and building those solid relationships; being fiscally responsible to donors, to the board, to your volunteers, to be as transparent as you can, to communicate is important, the results of your work. And what you were saying is, “If you say you’re going to do it, you do it.” So I think that this conversation is really the essence and the foundation of our work. And without it, we would not be in existence.

These are my Two References
Issacs, A. N., Pepper, H., Pyett, P., Gruis, H. A.,Waples-Crowe, P., $ Oakley-Brown, M. A. (2011).‘What You Do is Important But How You Do it is More Important’. Qualitative Research Journal (RMIT Training Pty Ltd Trading As RMIT Publishing), 11(1), 51-60.
Poppo, L., &Schepker, D., J. (2010) Repairing Public Trust in Organizations. Corporate Reputation Review, 13(2), 124-141.