By Lieut. Colonel Neil Watt
Taken from Charles Wesley’s familiar hymn A Charge to Keep I Have, the above phrase frequently came to mind as I stood at various Christmas kettles last month. It is one of the few fund-raising endeavours I’m aware of where a donor can stand right in front of you and demand “accountability”.
Despite the lack of trust that today’s general public has of large institutions/churches, on two occasions this season, kettle donors commented to me that we are the most trusted charity in Canada and the only recipient of their donations. While extremely humbling, I always feel somewhat uneasy about those exchanges as it says to me that the public’s expectations for our accountability are very high indeed.
But what does accountability really mean? In the Charity Central handbook, Road To Accountability, accountability is defined as ”the process of holding an organization responsible for its actions so that it reports honestly and openly to authorities such as government and funders.” Sponsored by the Canadian Revenue Agency, this handbook reminds us that accountability goes beyond simply the management of finances and attempts to address the widest possible spectrum of internal and external expectations.
It is encouraging that General Andre Cox has issued a call to the world wide Salvation Army for greater accountability as it relates to our vision and strategy, policy, performance measurement and risk management. He has assigned Lieut.-Colonel Dean Pallant, Director of The Social Justice Commission, to the task of ensuring that, organizationally, we are pursuing best practices, so that our accountability is as relevant, specific and accurate as possible.
Of course, we don’t have to wait for organizational improvements. No matter what our role, it is our responsibility to the Lord, to the Army and to all our stakeholders that, corporately and individually, our accountability is of the highest standard.
The General’s call for greater accountability tells us that this is a matter that we all must take very seriously. We must be in a position to say to all future supporters “Thank you for your donation,” knowing that we are doing everything possible to ensure accountability throughout the organization. May “Integrity in practice” be our mantra!
“So then each of us should give account of himself to God”…Romans 14:12
