Non profit organizations: a culture of opacity

The aim of the paper is to analyze the growing need for transparency and accountability in non profit organizations. In the non profit sector we consider transparency and accountability as the great availability of relevant, reliable information about the performance, the financial situation, and the governance of the organization. They are the amount of information that an organization provides to the stakeholders about itself and how honestly and quickly it reveals this information. Non profit organizations have an ethical obligation to conduct their activities in a way that is accountable and transparent because normally they work for the community. Non profit organizations should convey information to the stakeholders about their missions, the activities and the decision-making processes. This information should be easily accessible to the stakeholders and should create external visibility, community understanding and trust in the organization, conditions necessary to find donors. Non profit organizations work with communities and community donors need to know how their money is used. The Italian law allows taxpayers to devote 5 per thousand of their income tax to non profit organizations, choosing between charities, social promotion associations, recognized associations, entities dedicated to scientific research and health care, universities, municipal social services and other non profit organizations. The present study is based on an empirical analysis of non-profit organizations that receive this donation in Italy. In the paper we analyze the transparency and the accountability of the top 100 non profit organizations that have received the contribution of 5 per thousand, checking whether they prepare their Sustainability Report, the information document for excellence.