Holding Charities Accountable: Some Thoughts from an Ex-Regulator

Abstract

This paper recounts a number of lessons learned in the course of serving as the Director of Public Charities for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It incorporates these lessons into a discussion of the proper analysis of charitable organizations. Should charities be analogized to for-profit firms or are they something that is essentially different? The paper argues that they lack many of the attributes of Coasian firms and that they should be considered as "consumption groups" that have different methods of accountability.

Keywords: charitable organizations, non profit organizations, for profit organizations, Coasian firms, consumption groups, accountability, regulations