“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou
CMDS, a registered practice acting as accounting officers for organisations that choose not to have an independent audit, shares some insights that may help NPOs to reduce the risk of fraud. CMDS is of the view that EFT payments, just like cheque payments, also require two signatories. It warns that, “Even though the releaser (authoriser) of an EFT may be highly trusted, a single releaser has the opportunity to clear out the contents of the organisation’s bank account with the click of a mouse, either in error or intentionally.” It further states that electronic banking that leaves control in the hands of one individual is relatively inexpensive, adding that in order to implement the control of having two separate releasers for all EFT’s, NPOs will need electronic banking for businesses, which is more expensive.
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Lack of donor funding has resulted in many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) resorting to desperate measures including accepting donations which at times do not even translate into improving the lives of their beneficiaries. As a result of the way they go about doing business, many of them have earned themselves the description ‘briefcase NGOs’. These NGOs do not believe in partnerships, are not transparent and are not in touch with their beneficiaries – which in most cases exist in their funding proposals and annual reports.
Eugenia Lee, who worked as an international development worker before becoming a social impact ethnographer, writes that the reasons briefcase NGOs exist are complex but these organisations begin with noble intentions. Lee states that with international funding agencies often dictating funding and programme priorities this forces cash-strapped NGOs to adjust their strategic visions in order to access the funding. She cautions that, “If a vision is also owned and co-developed with the community, it is more likely to be locally-driven and sustainable, not become a briefcase NGO.” She further believes that when employees cannot pay their bills, they use the funding to pay their salaries first, and then spend the remainder for the programmes.
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