International Experience Integration of Openness and Transparency Level Evaluation of Socially Oriented Non-Governmental Organizations into Russian Practice

Abstract

This article deals with international experience integration of openness and transparency level evaluation of activities by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into the Russian practice. The object of this study is socially oriented non-governmental organizations — both those that receive financial support from the state and those that do not. The subject of the study is the transparency and openness of the socially oriented non-governmental organizations of the Sverdlovsk region. The article proposes the following hypothesis: the government provides financial support to exceptionally transparent and open socially oriented non-governmental organizations; the most popular socially oriented non-governmental organizations are considered the most transparent, and the state financial support is provided to them. To evaluate the level of openness and transparency of non- governmental organizations the authors use quantitative methodology for websites monitoring of non-governmental organizations. The indicators proposed allow for the evaluation of the current level of openness of socially oriented non-governmental organizations. In addition, the article assesses available statistics to evaluate the popularity indicator of specific socially oriented non-governmental organizations.