Social Entrepreneurs and Accountability - Audris Campbell

Accountability is so important in the world of social entrepreneurship. As a social entrepreneur, you are asking people to contribute towards your organization in the form of time, finances, or partnerships. These contributions are critical to the functioning of your organization, but they do not come without a price. When someone makes the decision to contribute to your organization’s success, in return they are asking that you be accountable for their time and resources by practicing good stewardship. If by any chance they learn that you have not been a good steward, rest assured that you have lost that person’s contributions along with other potential contributors.

Social entrepreneurs can exercise good stewardship habits by effectively and efficiently serving their target population and pursuing their mission. These days, many social entrepreneurs are practicing transparency as a way to illustrate their accountability to contributors. Some example of transparency are posting financial documents online, holding meetings where stakeholders are updated on financial decisions, and involving stakeholders in the actual decision making processes of the organization. In the wake of nonprofit scandals, such as Angel Food Ministries, social entrepreneurs cannot over look the need for being transparent to stakeholders. People have literally become hesitant to support organizations without a strong assurance that their contributions are going directly to the fulfillment of an organization’s mission.

Another way social entrepreneurs can demonstrate accountability to stakeholders is by creating performance measures for their organization and being sure to evaluate their organization on a consistent basis. These performance evaluations can be posted online or discussed at the organization’s annual meetings. Additionally, performance measures are great because not only does it help the organization demonstrate accountability to its stakeholders, but it also keeps stakeholders motivated within the organization. Contributors are able to keep track of the progress of the organization, which gives them opportunity to celebrate accomplishments and look forward to achieving future success.