Transparency and accountability, deeply intertwined with the availability of clean and accessible data, play an important role in building and maintaining institutional trust. While the need to improve transparency and accountability within philanthropy is clear, understanding how philanthropies might go about this remains a challenge. 

To address this need, WINGS and the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, with the financial support of the European Union, created the "Transparency and Accountability for Philanthropic Organisations: Moving from Reflection to Action" guide in May 2023. This guide seeks to provide philanthropic organizations of all sizes with concrete steps on how to increase transparency and accountability.

The guide focuses on how philanthropies can develop an open strategy — a move for greater transparency and/or inclusiveness in strategy processes (see more) — and is organized around three main pillars: 

1. Transparency: developing a proactive approach that considers the legal responsibilities of organizations 

2. Accountability: using the organization's values and pre-established indicators to embrace readiness

3. Oversight: incorporating monitoring, evaluating and learning (MEL) processes in the organization

The modular approach of the guide is meant to center flexibility, allowing it to be adapted to the specific needs of organizations by either starting a transparency initiative from scratch or strengthening existing policies. The section on transparency combines a proactive approach as well as the legal responsibilities of organizations, while the accountability section seeks to embrace readiness to take responsibility for actions, with a predefined framework of values and indicators.

The section on oversight offers monitoring, evaluating and learning (MEL) resources. Once the transparency and accountability systems are in place, there is a need to create an infrastructure that helps philanthropic organizations maintain these systems in place. MEL practices can be incorporated in a public-facing accountability strategy, but there is also a need for an internal MEL strategy to maintain and improve the work of the team, management and governance actors of the organization. 

Below we provide three main takeaways from this piece:

1. Enhancing Trust and Legitimacy: Philanthropic organizations can strengthen their relationships with stakeholders by incorporating transparency and accountability into their everyday practices.

2. Tailored and Adaptable Approach: There is not a one-size fits all transparency and accountability strategy for all philanthropic organizations, having a flexible approach allows diverse needs to be centered. 

3. From ideas to practice: The guide provides specific steps that can help organizations improve or get started with new transparency practices. 

The full guide can be read on the WINGS website.