The Challenge of Accountability, the Opportunity of Responsibility for Third Sector Organisations

Accountability is usually assumed to be an unmitigated good for Third Sector organisations – the more the better. While there are some benefits from externally imposed accountability requirements, they can also be counterproductive – undermining responsibility and leading to what we have coined as ‘funder capture’. A typology of funder capture is presented, suggesting some of its more subtle forms are likely to be the most insidious.