A Look Back — and Forward

Barden: The move to greater transparency has really taken off in the last decade. It’s no longer enough to say, “Trust us!” Now nonprofits have to prove they deserve that trust. This is a positive change, but it does open the door to some people focusing exclusively on one or two metrics, or misinterpreting information. It’s also opened the door to some “creative” practices that can skew reality. For example, I was looking at one nonprofit’s 990, and they apparently lease their employees from an outside company to avoid (I assume) having to disclose salaries on the 990. Yes, that’s legal — but is it ethical?