Chapter 1

Management Information Systems

for Non-governmental Organisations.
The Evidence from Poland
Tomasz DYCZKOWSKI
Wrocław University of Economics

1.1. Introduction

In the traditional perception of charitable activities each initiative – in particular

those intended to alleviate poverty or fostering education – was treated as a noble act
or, in modern terms, as one contributing to the public benefit [see Dyczkowski, 2010,
p. 38]. Such an attitude was entirely justified considering the non-existence of welfare
state mechanisms and the leading role of private initiatives. In a situation when the
property of rich philanthropists – often in the form of memorial foundations –
propelled social activities, intentions rather than effects were the most proper measure
to judge charitable work.
Nowadays, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are linked with a wide range
of individual or institutional stakeholders who support their operations with
donations, social work, sponsorship, grants or subsidies. For this reason, NGOs have
had to develop internal mechanisms which help them to monitor the effects and
demonstrate those to the stakeholders and to the general public. Even the most
profound knowledge of social problems and ways how to counteract them, which
many NGOs obviously have, may not be sufficient to obtain funds or justify
spendings. Managers of contemporary NGOs need to have an access to a knowledge
pool that merges social and economic aspects of activities they are responsible for.
This is an true challenge for non-profit organisations, since with no profit generated –
which is the first instance to evaluate economic rationality of business activity – other
measures of performance, including social effectiveness, have to be developed and
applied [see Finkler, 2005, pp. 20-21].
Considering the remarks above, it should be stated that it is the decision and
responsibility of the particular organisation as to whether and what kind of internal
control and reporting procedures – apart from those required by law – it implements.
Such a decision should be taken considering the expected influence of the additional
information on the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the NGO. The problem
is that social leaders ought to think how to counteract the social inequalities rather

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18 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

than how to develop the appropriate costing, budgeting or management information

systems.
The research the author conducted in 2006 proved that the non-governmental
sector did not find or could not afford external support in developing management
control tools. Based on the responses of 125 organisations from Poland, Germany and
a smaller group of charities from the United Kingdom it turned out that NGOs, while
developing control or reporting mechanisms had to rely on their own knowledge and
experience or, in the worst case, on intuition. For example, over half of all Polish
NGOs had no access to information on how to develop budgeting, costing,
management control or management information systems. If they used any support, it
came from other non-profit or umbrella organisations supporting social initiatives
within the state [see Dyczkowski, 2010, pp. 170-171].
Considering the last remark, the objective of this chapter is to present factors
affecting the methodology of providing social managers with performance related
information. The significance of such information to build good relations between
NGOs and their donors will be also addressed. The possibilities to pool information
based on obligatorily registered data and voluntary supplied information will be
scrutinised. A comprehensive methodology to record effects of social work and to
report them to managerial staff will be considered, with special attention paid to
developing an integrated management information system. Finally, applications of
such systems in Polish NGOs will be assessed.
Beside the theoretical discussion, the chapter presents empirical findings based on
two sources. The first one is the research project “Financial Monitoring in Charities:
European and Polish Solutions”, carried out by the author in the period 2004-2010.
The project was developed with the support of 58 Polish and 67 western European
(German and British) NGOs, which were recognized as public benefit organizations
according to local regulations. The second source of information comprised the
analyses carried out within the research project “ The Economics of Contemporary
Philanthropy” which is currently being conducted by the author. This chapter will
include selected data from the first group of 23 Polish NGOs examined in the first
half of 2014.

1.2. Relations of NGOs with their stakeholders

and the impact they have on management information systems

If we agree that the ultimate objective of commercial businesses is to generate

benefit to their stakeholders, it should be assumed that there is no difference between
profit- and non-profit-oriented organisations. Companies aim at satisfying their
customers’ needs by providing them with the desired products or services. Similarly,
non-governmental organisations intend to improve their beneficiaries’ living

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 19

standards, offering them necessary assistance or advocating their rights in a society.

There is, however, a major difference between the two groups, which becomes visible
when the transfer of resources – financial, material and human – and benefits is
scrutinised [Dyczkowski, 2010, p. 102].
In the case of a commercial business, investors, suppliers and employees expect,
first of all, financial compensation for their involvement, i.e. interest, dividend,
payment or remuneration. Such expenses are covered by payments for products and
services purchased by customers. Therefore, to finalise all the financial transactions
successfully, a company has to recognise market needs, create an adequate product or
service and attract attention of potential customers [Dyczkowski, 2010, p. 102].
If non-governmental organisations want both to fulfil their beneficiaries’ needs, by
offering them services and support, and to meet public expectations, by improving the
living standard of a society, they have to satisfy an economic pre-condition: to raise
funds which compensate for the lack of (or limited) payment from the beneficiaries
[see Iwankiewicz-Rak, 2002, p. 128]. In consequence, a specific three-lateral
relationship between the beneficiaries, the organisation and its donors emerges. An
organisation has two interrelated customer groups: the beneficiaries whose needs are
fulfilled, and the donors who pay for the services. In this situation an organisation has
to guarantee that its transactions with donors are equivalent, in other words, that
supporters receive such an intense satisfaction from their contribution, that they
continue their involvement, or even intensify it [Dyczkowski, 2010, p. 103].
Therefore, the ability to generate and present the social effects to the stakeholders, is
a conditio sine qua non for the stable operation of a non-governmental organisation.
Following this concept it should be noted that non-governmental organisations
interact with many social groups, which can be split into their external and internal
stakeholders (see Table 1.1). In each case an organisation receives and transfers
certain financial or non-financial values. Non-profit organisations need information
which helps them to characterise transactions between the organisations and their
stakeholders in order to prove that the sum of outputs is equal to or exceeds inputs.
This counterbalances the effect of financial inequalities in particular transactions.
When table 1.1 is studied carefully, it becomes apparent, that many contributions
and effects related to non-governmental activities are of a qualitative character. They
are difficult to quantify, and even less prone to valuation. Consequently, the following
two questions emerge. Firstly, which of the contributions and effects should be
covered in management information systems an in periodical reports on
organisation’s performance. Secondly, how to measure those inputs and effects so
that a methodology used by an organisation is both credible and helpful for social
managers to increase efficiency of an organisation’s activities. These problems will
be addressed in following two parts of the chapter.

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20 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

Table 1.1. Effectiveness of NGOs’ operations – the stakeholders perspective

Stakeholder Input Output

group financial non-financial financial non-financial
External stakeholders
Target group payment for community financial support services; mental
services service (self-help) support
Donors donations promotion (e.g. tax allowances satisfaction
endorsement of (indirectly)
celebrities)
Volunteers “out of pocket” free service partial competencies
expenses reimbursement; developed; personal
social security fees fulfilment
paid
Public sector subsidies free seminars; taxes and local fees support in
organisational paid accomplishing public
support; tasks
Enterprises sponsorship promotion payment for supporting company’s
products and PR and social
services responsibility policies
Other NGOs grants free services; grants free services;
organisational organisational support
support
Community charitable gifts community financial support addressing social
service (e.g. humanitarian problems
aid)
Internal stakeholders
Founders initial capital know-how; tax allowances personal fulfilment;
community (indirectly) image
service;
promotion
Members membership free service partial personal fulfilment
fees reimbursement
Employees “out of pocket” competencies; salary; social competencies
expenses free service (in security fees developed; personal
overtime) fulfilment
Organisation spendings from using building increased
(as a legal own funds; organisational organisational organisational know-
entity) income on know-how resources; how; reputation
organisation’s investments
property

Source: own presentation based on [Dyczkowski, 2010, pp. 114-116].

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 21

1.3. Information needs of NGOs and the scope of their reflection

in obligatory reporting systems in Poland

In order to manage non-governmental organisations successfully, information on

the effects generated and the corresponding contributions, targeted both at the
authorities and stakeholders of those organisations, is required. At a strategic level the
possibility to fulfil the organisation’s mission should be addressed. This analysis has
to encompass the social, economic, legal and political factors. The second type of
information required is associated with the effects achieved by the NGO and the
related cost incurred. This information helps to build proper relations with the
organisation’s stakeholders, in particular with its sponsors and donors. Unconstrained
information flow is a factors which stimulates community involvement in social
initiatives [see Waniak-Michalak, Zarzycka, 2011, pp. 197-200; Saxton, Neely, Guo,
2010, p. 5]. Finally, operational efficiency in particular functional areas, including
fundraising, social work, administration and development has to be reported to the
managers of NGOs.
As it is mentioned in Table 1.2, certain types of information which make a
database for NGOs are recorded and reported by those organisations with regard to
legal regulations. In Poland the major acts in this respect include: the Minister of
Finance Regulation of 15th November 2001 on specific accounting rules for some
non-commercial entities which do not conduct business activity and the Minister of
Justice Regulation of 8th May 2001 on the framework for reporting the activities of
foundations, which is binding for all other types of NGOs which have acquired the
status of public benefit institutions.
On the part of contributions received from external parties, the said regulations
stipulate that NGOs should inform the public about the objectives of their statutory
activities, forms of such activities and report whether an organisation undertakes
supplementary commercial activity. Therefore, NGOs should be able to provide
information about the donations they receive, the fees paid by their members and
revenues from services provided to their beneficiaries and the income on
organisation’s property. Revenues from any supplementary commercial activity
should be calculated separately. An NGO also has to provide information about all
the tasks contracted with central and local governmental institutions, and about the
economic result of those. Conforming to other regulations, non-governmental
organisations should also provide information on the effects of their fundraising
activities which are carried out in the form of public collections.
To generate social effect an NGO has to incur cost. In this respect , Polish
organisations have to report the cost of four types of activities: social work,
administration, supporting commercial activity, a nd those related with tasks
contracted with public institutions. The organisation has to report whether it generates
a financial surplus or deficit. Obviously, the objective of an NGO is neither to

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22 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

Table 1.2. Information database for non-governmental organisations

Scope of including in information

Area Information needs
and reporting systems of NGOs
1 2
Social - demand for social services of certain kinds
environment - scope of meeting those needs, other providers
(public and private) and their offers
- requirements of market regulators and those
of other stakeholders concerning offered
services (and their quality)
- available resources: financial, material,
human
- sources for financing statutory activities
- business partners and community supporters
Financial - available funds, organisation’s assets,
activities - revenues on statutory activities, donations,
income on NGO’s properties
- cost of statutory activities, administration cost
- liabilities
3
not covered: some analyses are
made by umbrella organisations
of the NGO sector, the
Department of Public Benefit of
the Ministry of Labour and
Social Policy or by researchers
covered: financial statements of
non-commercial organisations;
annual accounts of foundations
and public benefit organisations
(PBOs)

- income from fundraising activities, partially covered: voluntary

fundraising cost
- cost of particular social programs and projects PBOs reporting
Human - organisation members
resources - paid staff, including office staff and managers
- personal cost, including that of administration
work
- number of volunteers
- statutory tasks performed by organisation
members and volunteers
- staff qualifications and competencies, and
those of managers
- training for staff, including that for managers
and volunteers
- staff rotation, sustainability of volunteer
support
- satisfaction of staff and volunteers
- market equivalent of community work (of
members and volunteers)
Beneficiaries - number of beneficiaries of certain kinds (age
groups, geographical dispersion etc.)
- number of beneficiaries who pay for services
- number of new beneficiaries
- satisfaction of beneficiaries
extension to foundations and
covered: annual accounts of
foundations and PBOs; reports
submitted to Central Statistical
Office
partially covered: might be
referred to in reporting on tasks
contracted with public
institutions
not covered: some analyses are
made by umbrella organisations
of the NGO sector
partially covered: voluntary
extension to foundations and
PBOs reporting; might be
referred to in reporting on tasks
contracted with public
institutions

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 23

1 2 3
Donors, - value of donations (including goods donated) covered: financial statements of
supporters non-commercial organisations;
annual accounts of foundations
and PBOs
- number of donors, including long-term partially covered: voluntary
supporters extension to foundations and
PBOs reporting
- social profile of donors not covered: some analyses are
- motivation of donors made by umbrella organisations
of the NGO sector

Source: own presentation based on [Dyczkowski 2007, p. 25; Schubert 2001, p. 5; Kantyka et al. 2005,
pp. 110111].

maximise a surplus nor even to cut cost. The economic policy of such organisations is
based on maximising the benefit of the target group and on offering services with a
quality higher than possible under commercial terms [Salamon, Hems, Chinnock,
2000, pp. 5-9]. However, the ability to reserve funds to build up facilities or to launch
new social programs is a positive signal about the efficiency of the NGO.
An issue of the highest importance to external stakeholders of a non-governmental
organisation is the level of administrative cost, in particular in relation to those of
social work. Such information helps to assess how much of all the funds available to
the NGO is spent to fulfil its social mission and what part is ‘consumed’ by an
organisation itself. This is a very transparent method to distinguish top performers
which should attract more support from the donors.
All activity areas of NGOs should also be characterised with the size of the human
resources involved, and remuneration paid, with special attention given to the salaries
of managerial staff. It should be pointed out that excessive pay which triples average
salary in the industrial sector, automatically qualify certain types of statutory
activities as commercial, and may effect in losing a public benefit status. To assess
management practices, an organisation also has to present also the resolutions of its
governing bodies and explain all major decisions which affect its financial situation.
The acquisition of properties, valuable assets, investments and loans granted by the
organisation also have to be reported. The organisation has to inform about its
settlements with public offices, including social insurance and tax, and inform about
the results of any audits that took place within the last operation year.
Obviously, more detailed information should be welcome by stakeholders. In
particular, the effect-to-cost relations for particular social activities or for certain
projects should help to prove the operational efficiency and social effectiveness of the
NGO. The calculation of the efficiency of fundraising campaigns is particularly
recommended. This includes the proper recognition of all the cost incurred in

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24 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

obtaining the funds for statutory activities. It should be explained that far too often
donations received by NGOs are treated as financial flows generated at no cost. This
is a misleading conviction as an organisation incurs the cost of promoting its activities
(photographing, filming, publishing brochures), communicating with the public
(running and updating a web-page, paying telephone bills) or organising charitable
events (renting a venue, paying for catering etc.). When fundraising activities become
a part of employees’ duties, these should definitely be distinguished from the general
administrative work. Proper cost calculation helps managers also to identify the most
effective fundraising methods.
The third area of obligatory reporting is related with public contracting. This form
of a public-private partnership not only increases the scope of social services
available, but also offers a more favourable access to such services to their
beneficiaries. On the other hand, NGOs are not always strict about procedures. In
order to guarantee an actual rise in the effectiveness of spending public funds, an
NGO which applies and uses public funds has to present certain information about its
social projects and their effects.
When an NGO applies for public funds it has to inform about the objectives of the
project, its scope, duration, work schedule and predicted results. This is crucial to
justify the demand for resources. It also forces managers of the NGO to apply project
management or budgeting methodologies [Dyczkowski, 2010, p. 92]. Once the
contract is accomplished, a report which includes merit-related and financial data has
to be submitted. The first part compares the objectives of a project with the results
achieved. Substantial variances – both referring to the activity and the time scope of
the project – have to be explained. In addition the NGO has to document the effects of
the project, presenting, for example, lists of the beneficiaries of the project together
with the serviced they were offered. The financial part includes a record of all the
expenses incurred at the realisation phase, and specifies which were subsidised and
which were covered with the organisation’s own resources [Dyczkowski, 2010,
p. 93].
It should be pointed out that mandatory requirements help to make operations of
the non-profit sector in Poland more transparent. In particular, the obligation to
submit annual financial accounts and report on activities – in standardised formats –
to the openly accessible electronic database run by the Department for Public Benefit
at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is a tool which builds the society’s trust in
organisations of the third sector. Nonetheless, the focus of the reporting on closed
periods and past events means that reports are of limited use to managerial purposes.
Therefore the problem of creating operational tools – in the form of a set of specified
ratios – which help managers to monitor the on-going initiatives and their effects, will
be addressed in the next part of the chapter.

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 25

1.4. Performance indicators as part of management information

systems in NGOs

Management information systems should support social managers by providing

them with three types of information. Firstly, it is essential to know whether an
organisation fulfils its mission. It should be investigated, therefore, if its activities
have effectively and consistently led to meeting the long-term objectives which were
set by the founders. Secondly, managers must be aware whether the organisation has
the resources necessary to accomplish all its tasks. Finally, it is necessary to check if
its internal processes are organised in a way which guarantees the efficient use of
resources. In order to develop a comprehensive performance measuring system, it is
recommended to divide the social effects obtained by an organisation into three
categories: primary, secondary and internal effects [see Mook, Richmond, Quarter,
2003, pp. 288-292].
Primary effects represent the direct influence of an organisation on its
beneficiaries, mostly in the form of the services provided to the target group. These
effects can be treated as a measure of the public benefit which determines whether
activities are effective at all. Secondary effects reflect the indirect influence of the
organisation on its stakeholders, for example, by building up human resources of the
non-profit sector. As it was said earlier, the impact of the non-governmental sector on
a social situation depends significantly on the employees and volunteers involved in
such initiatives. Therefore, higher employment or the increased qualifications of staff
prove indirectly that the NGO contributes to strengthening the civil initiatives within
the state. The secondary effects also include the support provided by the organisation
to other NGOs. That comprises of both resources sharing, for example the
participation of staff or volunteers in common projects or a knowledge transfer, for
instance helping to formulate applications for grants from national or European funds.
The ongoing effects may be treated as primary, provided that the organisation works
as an umbrella to other NGOs. Finally, internal effects refer to the improvements in
the way the organisation operates. They reflect the positive changes in the relations
between the primary effects and the resources involved in the statutory activities.
Internal effects also indicate the future potential of the organisation in fulfilling its
mission. All the said effects may be captured by the measures presented in Table 1.3.
The metrics of the first type which refer directly to the statutory activities of an
organisation may be divided into three subgroups, including those describing the
scope of activity (ratios 1-2), quality of services (measures 3-4) and value added
generated by the organisation (ratio 5).
The first metric describing the social activity of the organisation may be expressed
both as the total number of social projects conducted or in relation to the staff
involved in those initiatives. This measure may be used to monitor the activity level
of the organisation over time and to evaluate the workload attributed to a single

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26 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

employee or volunteer. The measure will be difficult to apply in those organisations

where particular projects vary significantly in terms of their duration, scope and the
number of people involved. It should be assumed, however, that a certain scope of the
organisation’s activities is repeatable which enables benefitting from the learning
effect. This measure may be split into certain types of services provided, and
calculated in relation to the demand for those services. The demand for the services
may be identified by the organisation itself based on the number of requests for
support, or indirectly, in reference to the statistics provided by the public institutions
responsible for social welfare.

Table 1.3. Performance indicators for non-governmental organisations

Area Ratio / formula

Measures of number of social projects conducted
1. Social activity =
primary effects staff members*
number of services provided
2. Social effectiveness =
demand for services
time spent on providing services
3. Quality of services =
number of beneficiaries
Satisfaction number of negative statements
4. =
of beneficiaries number of beneficiaries
value of services**– cost of services**
5. Social value added rate =
value of services**
Measures of Human related time of seminars and training for staff
6. =
secondary investments staff members*
effects number of volunteers*
7. Voluntarism =
staff members*
Measures of funds raised
8. Fundraising efficiency =
internal effects fundraising cost**
Investment in facilities of investment expenses
9. =
the organisation organisation’s budget
Administration administration cost**
10. =
cost level total cost**
total cost**
11. Price for social services =
cost of statutory activities**
value of services** – cost of services**
12. Efficiency of work =
total working time*
* in full time equivalent
** including all financial and non-financial inputs or effects
Source: own presentation based on [Dyczkowski, 2010, p. 131].

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 27

When the quality of services is discussed, it should be emphasised that an

individual approach to beneficiaries – in contrast to a procedure-driven public welfare
system – is considered as a major advantage of non-governmental organisations [see
Dyczkowski, 2009, pp. 225-226]. The time which employees offer to every single
beneficiary (metric 3) is one of the quality indicators. As the metric does not reflect
the full complexity of quality perception, the results of questionnaires on the
beneficiaries’ satisfaction or, at least, the number of negative comments related to the
organisation’s activities (measure 4) should be regularly monitored.
The performance of an organisation should also be expressed in a monetary way
which is appealing to all groups of the organisation’s stakeholders. Social value added
(metric 5) is in this respect as important as the profitability rate in commercial
businesses. The more primary effects and inputs (both valuated and quantified in
other forms) are included in the formula, the more comprehensive will be a
calculation of effectiveness. On the other hand, when the ratio includes categories
which are not recorded in financial ledgers, calculations may be inconsistent or
distorted, and hence more useful in public relations rather than for managerial
purposes. There are, however, methods which help to make such estimations more
objective.
Considering an input which is not treated as cost (e.g. voluntary service), it should
be pointed out that valuation methodology does already exist. Non-governmental
organisations which carry out projects subsidised by public institutions or are
financed with grants, often have to indicate value of their own contribution – mostly
in the form of labour – to a project’s budget. Such a valuation must be reliable as the
contractor is controlled by supporting institutions, or even by independent auditors.
The value of labour is often estimated with the market equivalent method which
represents the cost of employing a person with certain qualifications [see Grippo,
Siegel, 2003, p. 23]. If such a method is accepted by independent auditors, it may
well bel used for the purpose of annual reporting in NGOs.
In practice, the application of the aforesaid method encounters certain obstacles.
Firstly, many organisations do not keep time records for volunteers or do not report
how many full-time workers such free involvement corresponds to, due to the
changeable or temporary involvement of volunteers. Secondly, volunteers are
welcome by NGOs for their willingness to work without being paid rather than for
qualifications they have. Therefore it is difficult to find the corresponding market
wages. Finally, some services provided by NGOs are not offered by commercial
institutions. In such cases it is hard to define an adequate employee profile for market
comparisons [see Richmond, Mook, Quarter, 2003, p. 313].
The valuation of effects, including the fundamental problem of services value, is
another challenge. The market price of services – if there exists any market – would
be the most obvious reference basis. The second option includes the value of services
to their beneficiaries. One must be aware, though, that free services are ‘priceless’ to
those who would not afford them under commercial terms. The third – and the most

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28 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

versatile – method considers the value of services determined by the donors or by

institutional supporters. In other words, it is the price which they are ready to cover
with their funds. In this respect, it is essential for the NGO to visualise to their
stakeholders what immediate effects and long term impact its services have [see
Richmond, Mook, Quarter, 2003, p. 311]. As long as the valuation methodology is
not referred to in legal regulations or in best practices, any calculations may be put in
doubt. Therefore an organisation should support quantitative analyses with a
description of the corresponding effects in a narrative form.
The measures describing the secondary effects of NGO’s activities focus on
increasing the human capital of the organisation which is fundamental to the
existence of non-commercial initiatives. These organisations, due to their limited
budgets, are not able to compete for qualified personnel with businesses and do not
guarantee as stable working conditions as public institutions. Therefore they have to
develop a deliberate human resources policy. This involves attracting young people to
engage in voluntary activities by offering them freedom of action and developing
their personal and professional competencies, as well as mentoring them by
experienced workers who are more socially rather than financially oriented. In this
context, human related investments per employee and the ratio of volunteers in the
organisation (metrics 6-7) may reflect the organisation’s contribution to building a
civil society.
The last group of ratios presented in Table 1.3 is related to the efficiency of the
organisation’s work. They can also be treated as indicators of future potential.
Fundraising efficiency is the first issue analysed here (metric 8). Successful
fundraising stimulates social initiatives, but at the same time it is not an objective in
itself. If obtaining financial support engages employees too much, or financial
objectives cannot be met, too little energy and motivation may be left to fulfil the
social mission of the organisation. Therefore, it is essential to reflect time invested by
employees and volunteers in fundraising activities alongside fundraising cost.
The second internal metric describes the investment policy. This may be presented
as the total level of expenses in facilities or as the share of such expenses in the
organisation’s budget. If an NGO is able to reserve certain funds to build its material
resources, this means that its economic situation is stable. It should also be mentioned
that both individual and institutional donors are interested in supporting people in
need rather than the NGO itself. Therefore, investment expenditure must be properly
justified by the social effects they help to generate.
The tenth metric presented in Table 1.3 shows the administration cost in an
organisation. Its low level, together with the positive assessments of the two
previously mentioned internal measures, prove that the organisation works efficiently.
Measures 8-10 are summarised by a popular ratio called the ‘price’ for social
services. The price represents the cost which donors and other supporters have to bear
in order to provide services worth one monetary unit. This ratio may be calculated
based on obligatory statements. It may serve as a benchmark for donors who tend not

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 29

to support organisations where less than half of the budget is spent on activities
directly related to social missions (social price higher or equal 2.0) [see Stout, 2001,
pp. 47-48; Parsons, 2003, p. 115]. Non-governmental organisations know that they
are assessed with the said ratio, which sometimes makes them manipulate
administration, fundraising and statutory costs [Stout, 2001, p. 48].
In order to gain a complete picture of an NGO’s performance, the last measure of
work efficiency can be calculated (measure 12). This ratio describes the quality of
management. Its increase represents positive changes, e.g. rise in the value of services
by improving their quality or complexity, or reducing their cost while maintaining the
desired quality level. Similarly, more experienced employees should be able to deal
with more orders in the same time, keeping to the desired quality standards, which
would also increase the value of the metric.

1.5. Developing a management information system in NGOs

Non-governmental organisations, just as any other organisations acting within a

market economy, have to plan their activities, manage resources, control operations
and evaluate results. And they do it more or less effectively. Therefore, it is
reasonable to ask what advantages would a more systematic approach to management
control generate so that it is worth investing deficient resources. The answer is as
follows. Such a solution implies a systematic (it regularly analyses past and current
performance and assesses a future potential), complex (it examines all vital factors
from inside and outside the organisation), and, above all, purpose-oriented approach
(focusing on the key success factor for the particular organisation). Thus, it
guarantees both the higher reliability of information and provides new information to
social managers. The decision-making process will gain on efficiency this way [see
Schubert, 2001, p. 1].
A systematic approach to control and reporting is even more welcome in a
dynamic environment characterised by complex relations between the objectives,
resources and effects obtained. Such is the economic surrounding of contemporary
non-governmental organisations where they have to compete with other NGOs, and –
to some extent – with public institutions and businesses for resources where public
opinion requires transparency in the raising and spending funds, beneficiaries expect
quality, and sponsors set the directions of the social activities they want to foster [see
Schubert, 2001, p. 1].
There is no rule to decide when an NGO needs to upgrade its internal information
system. Positive responses to the following four questions could be, nonetheless,
treated as a signal to do so [see Schubert, 2001, p. 2].
1) Does the NGO constantly struggles with ‘urgent’ problems instead of planning for
the future?

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30 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

2) Are social leaders given different reasons for problems, depending on who they
ask?
3) Do the leaders have to base their decisions on intuition rather than on facts since
the required information is unavailable, outdated or cannot be verified?
4) Are the leaders unable to predict what effects the NGO will achieve in the current
period?
The first stage of designing a tailored management information system in an NGO
(see Figure 1.1) is to identify the vital information areas related to the statutory
activities of the organisation and its relations to various stakeholder groups. Both
information deficit and overflow is undesired if the decision-making process is to be
streamlined. The information gaps increase operational risk, while multiple signals
distort the clarity of the picture, and may result in focusing on less important issues.
The effective implementation of a management information system requires a
thorough analysis of the information environment of the organisation. This includes:
itemising the tasks conducted by the organisation, identifying the resources and
people involved in those tasks, describing the decision-making processes and
accountability areas, as well as defining the influences of particular stakeholder
groups. As a result it is possible to identify the key processes which ought to be
monitored as well as information needed to speed up decision making. In other words,
already at the planning stage it should be decided what managerial reports will be
generated in the future with the appropriate frequency, scope and focus.
At this stage of designing the process an existing information flow which does not
necessarily form any system has to be scrutinised, respecting the possibility of using
it in the future. Firstly, it has to be examined whether the organisation collects the
required information in necessary details, and what information blank spots exist.
Such an analysis implies a decision whether the current solution can be adapted at all,
or that the systems should be built from scratch, or to what extent data collection and
processing can be supported with openly accessible office suits or specialised
information systems.
It must be remembered that any further effects of using an information system will
depend on quality of entry data. This implies the necessity to make the record of
business transactions more detailed, respecting the future application of the costing
methods, quantifying information which was collected in narrative form only, or even
moving from simplified accounting methods to the full accounting mode.
If the information flow that exists in the organisation is to be adapted for the
purpose of building a management information system, numerous problems in
collecting information and adding it to the managerial database have to be avoided.
Acquiring information is exposed to both the risk of receiving no relevant data or
obtaining such which are of insufficient quality and reliability. To prevent both
situation the following problems should be eliminated [see Kantyka et al., 2005,
pp. 114-116].

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 31

Identifying stakeholder
statutory goals vital information areas objectives

Defining key processes

statutory supporting communi-
activities processes cation

Examining
existing information flow

Adaptation of the
existing system?

Validation of the existing structure of New structure

the information system of an information system
performance
data acquisition data integration planning reporting
monitoring

Setting target levels

of the performance metrics

Institutionalisation of the management

information system
independent regular focused

Testing
streamlining extending

Integration within
an IT solution?

Fig. 1.1. Development process of a management information system for non-governmental

organisations
Source: own presentation.

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32 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

Firstly, the organisation may not be aware what information is relevant (for
example, the level of funding for Polish NGOs does not correspond with the results
presented in the annual reports [see Waniak-Michalak, Zarzycka, 2012, p. 158], as
most of individual donors support either organisations which advertise in the mass-
media, or those recommended by people they know). Secondly, charitable
organisation tend to play on the emotions, so they do not always pay enough attention
to the sources of information they communicate to target groups (the famous case of
miscalculating the number of malnourished children in Poland) or whether the
information is up-to-date. Thirdly, some organisations are not familiar with available
sources of information (unfortunately, this includes results of various research
projects). The next problem is that information from various sources is not verified,
and that original data and reports from second-hand sources are treated as equally
reliable.
In reference to the problem of integrating new information resources with the
existing ones several other problems can be named [see Kantyka et al., 2005, pp. 116-
117]. Firstly, the existing information may be replaced with new one without
considering its relevance. Secondly, outdated information is stored together with the
updated one which slows down the decision process or results in building plans on
wrong assumptions. Thirdly, the wrong reference basis is used, as for example
projects of various scopes or conducted under different economic or legal frameworks
are compared.
The ultimate stage of designing a management information system for a non-
governmental organisation comprises of two tasks. The first is to decide upon the
threshold values which, when surpassed, should make managers analyse certain
processes. The second is to decide who will receive such signals and how they will
react.
The first objective, in cases when the organisation draws up annual, task-related,
or project-linked budgets, will be achieved by determining the critical values in
reference to closed periods or finished projects. This implies, however, that those
periods or projects were undoubtedly assessed as successful and may be treated as
model ones. Otherwise the organisation should look for external benchmarks or
derive the thresholds from desired end-levels. It should be added that variances
between planned and actual values are unavoidable, and as such should not be
automatically treated as negative. More important is what was the reason that caused
them and what lesson the organisation may learn from that.
The second problem can be referred to as the institutionalisation of the
management information system. If such a system is expected to work effectively and
support managers in the decision-making processes, it can neither rely on reports
generated by certain units of an organisation or by project teams, nor can it be based
on information delivered on demand only. The first situation implies that the opinion
on the effects achieved and the related cost is biased. The other poses the risk that the
information received is outdated or incomplete, as the time between the request and

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 33

the report delivery is usually short. Ideally, the management information system is
supervised by an independent person – a controller – who scrutinises various pieces
of information and reports, compares them, and selects those which will be the most
essential for managers to take their decisions. Moreover, in such cases social leaders
and employees do not invest their time in reporting, but may meet with a controller to
discuss the results, listen to suggestions or to put forward their own ideas.
It should be added that the development of a management information system is a
continuous process. The effects of running a system and its impact on the social
effects should be scrutinised. Such an analysis will help to identify the information
which is still missing or eliminating reports which are less relevant. The reliability of
signals should be examined as well. Managerial reports must be clear and leave no
room for interpretation. Moreover, the signals ought to be comprehensible to the
recipient of the reports, not to those who generated those accounts. This requires
building the correct context of any assessment. The recipients, whether project
managers, general managers or key supporters, need to be sure what the particular
data refer to: which project, which period, what economic value. They need a
reference basis in the form of planned values, values from prior periods, from other
projects or external benchmarks. Stressing information which looks good but tells no
story, has to be avoided [see Hichert, 2003, p. 14]. For example, numerous reports
from Polish non-governmental organisations explain how much money an
organisation spends on statutory activities. Interestingly, it is not mentioned whether
that was the plan, whether the value was sufficient to meet the needs of beneficiaries,
and what expenses the said amount included. Moreover, the social effects described
by the level of expenses resembles the reporting manners of public institutions, which
do not epitomise economic efficiency [see discussion in Waniak-Michalak, Zarzycka,
2011, pp. 68-77].

1.6. A structure of an integrated management

information system for NGOs

The objective of a management information system in an NGO is to collect, store,

and present the requested information related to any social project and programme
within the scope of statutory activities. Moreover, all related fundraising, investment
and administrative tasks need to be covered. That objective may be fulfilled by
supporting such decision-making areas as: strategic planning, resources distribution,
human resources management, project monitoring and coordination, managing
project flow and internal communication, as well as fundraising, promotion and
managing relationships with stakeholders (Figure 1.2).
The most fundamental functionality of a management information system is to
organise all kinds of information on social projects and programmes, together with all

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34 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

strategic Human resources

planning  personal data
 category
promotion,
 competencies
fundraising,
resources
and
distribution
stakeholder
relations Tasks
 ID
CENTRAL
 type
DATABASE
 responsible person
document  time scope
human flow and  documents
resources internal
manageemnt communi-
cation Documents
project
monitoring  ID
and  type
coordination  date
 contents
Projects  recipients
 ID
Social mission  objectives
Social programmes
 time scope
 statutory goals  ID Expenses
 tasks
 statutory goals  funds  account
 projects  expenses  amount
 time scope  beneficiaries  date
 areas  responsible person

Donors Funds
 personal data  account Beneficiaries
 status  type  personal data
 amount  amount  status
 objectives  donor  problem

Fig. 1.2. An integrated management information system for non-governmental organisations

Source: own presentation.

supporting activities, in the form of a central database with the possibility to

aggregate data into reports requested by various users. In case of an NGO, the
following sets of data should form the said relational database:
 statutory objectives, which can be attributed to particular programmes and
projects,

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 35

 social programmes which are associated with projects, beneficiary groups,

geographical areas or periods,
 organisational staff – including regular employees, part-time helpers,
volunteers, office staff and managers – who can be linked to project teams, as
well as members, donors or other stakeholders vital to the NGO,
 funds which are linked both to projects, but which can also be associated with
particular donors,
 task lists which can be attributed to projects, linked to the responsible
personnel, or associated with certain documents and messages,
 expenses titles which are associated with projects, tasks or people responsible
for their authorisation,
 and documents which refer to projects or staff members.
While describing the functionalities of an integrated information system, the
strategic planning should be addressed first. It can be based on a project portfolio
model and operationalized with the balanced scorecard concept. With regards to such
characteristics of particular projects as: statutory task they fulfil, beneficiary target
group, place where the project is conducted, social effects expected, necessary
resources and risk factors involved, the NGO may map its activities, prioritise them
and co-ordinate particular programmes in order to maximise effect-to-cost relations
[see Kafel, 2010, pp. 304-307].
The procedure to allocate funds and resources refers to the analysis of the financial
priorities and limitations imposed by the donors and sponsors. Information on donors’
preferences and their history of co-operation not only helps to predict what resources
will be available to particular social programmes, but also to target promotion and
fundraising activities more accurately [see Iwankiewicz-Rak, 2011, pp. 679-680]. An
NGO should avoid a situation when its financing is imbalanced. It must be
remembered that donors and sponsors are rather conservative and consistent in their
decisions what actions they support so that innovative social initiatives must be well
promoted.
It should also be mentioned that the funds allocation functionality may be used in
reporting to donors. Apart from building a donor database which can be used to
communicate on the programmes run and effects obtained, each donation – apart from
those received in public collections or anonymously – can be traced respecting
projects it supported. If certain funds used by the organisation have a founder
attribute added, it will be possible to detect what social effects they helped to obtain.
Such information may be passed to donors and prove that the organisation feels
responsible for using donations effectively.
In the area of human resources management, an integrated information system
should, most of all, co-ordinate the allocation of staff to already conducted and
planned projects [see e.g. Brown, Schmied, 2012, pp. 20-22]. In the case of more
complex organisations, requests for personnel will be placed by project managers.

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36 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

Those are compared with the current workload of particular employees, information
on days-off planned by the staff and other relevant information. This procedure not
only helps to use the human potential of the NGO better, but also reveals problems,
which implies organising the necessary seminars for staff if certain competencies are
scarce, or recruiting new staff members or volunteers. It must be remembered that
NGOs must carefully consider the expectations and aspirations of their personnel, in
particular the unpaid members and volunteers involved in projects. Uncompetitive
salaries, or no remuneration at all, mean that satisfaction from the effect of social
work is vital for the support to be continued.
For the above-mentioned reason, apart from the typical functionalities of the HR
modules, such as: keeping a record of work time, tracking work progress, calculating
salaries and social benefits or preparing all related documents, NGOs should pay
particular attention to document the involvement of all members engaged in social
work. This will be used both to issue certificates confirming involvement of
volunteers which may enrich their CVs and to demonstrate the social effects obtained
by the organisation.
A centralised repository of all the documents related with all the closed, currently
conducted and planned social projects, which is accessible by all authorised staff
members, has at least three advantages. Firstly, all the necessary documents can be
downloaded or uploaded anywhere when required, which facilitates the operations of
subsidiaries and teams working in remote locations. Secondly, staff members working
off-site remain up-to-date with the project status, in particular if there exists an option
to share messages on updated materials related to the project they are involved in.
Finally, project managers or controllers may monitor the business transactions related
to the social programmes, track liabilities and decide how much money should be
allocated to particular projects at a certain time.
The co-ordination and monitoring of operations refers to the entire scope of
activities, including social programmes and projects, supporting activities related to
fundraising and administrative work, as well as particular tasks and processes defined
in all aforementioned areas. Such an examination should involve both quantitative
and qualitative aspects.
A proper monitoring system will incorporate both automatic messaging, regular
reporting and reporting on demand. The first activity type is based on a previously
defined quantitative (in particular monetary) objectives, milestones or deadlines, and
requested levels of performance measures. When those thresholds are surpassed
project managers or controllers should be alerted. Regular, standardised, reporting
involves the generation of accounts on the project’s status, including work progress,
expenses incurred or effects gained. Those values are set against the schedules and
budgets, and all substantial discrepancies are presented. Regular reports are usually
generated in predefined formats and delivered to a predefined list of recipients, which
beside project managers or project teams, controllers or managers may include – in an

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 37

excerpted form – sponsors of the programme. Finally, reports on requests depend on

particular needs, and are usually associated with a certain decision-making problem.
It should be considered that integrated management information systems are
mostly available and designed for the most complex organisations [see e.g. Olszak
Batko, 2011, p. 135], running a multitude of social projects or operating through
numerous subsidiaries, even on an international level [see e.g. Pereira, Nosoliny,
2012, pp. 66-68; Ruževičius et al., 2012, pp. 7-9]. This results from the necessity to
have required IT infrastructure and well-trained staff at their disposal, and to incur
cost of developing or acquiring, implementing and maintaining such IT systems. Most
NGOs may consider less sophisticated approached based on office suites, which
support a budgeting processes well enough, particularly if combined with accounting
systems. Most important is the awareness that management control may increase the
social effects generated by the organisation.

1.7. The scope of implementing management information systems

in Polish NGOs

The methodology which was described in previous sections will be applied by

NGOs only if their managers realise the relation between performance monitoring and
the success in fulfilling social missions. In this context, non-governmental
organisations which took part in the research project carried out by the author in 2006
(see introduction) were asked to express their opinions whether an assessment of the
economic effects of the organisation’s activities was necessary or important to
accomplish their social objectives. The project included 58 Polish NGOs of public
benefit status which provided the required information in surveys they were asked to
fill in. Those organisations made 17.3% of 334 randomly selected NGOs, including
both small, local associations and foundations as well as those well-known and
recognised by the general public.
While answering the said question, the three major attitudes were identified.
Firstly, an organisation could report positive relation between performance
monitoring and the effectiveness of its statutory activities. This answer suggested that
social managers knew they needed a reference basis to assess the effects generated by
the organisation. It could also imply that performance monitoring helped to increase
transparency of the NGO’s operations which should be appreciated by its
stakeholders.
Secondly, the organisation could emphasise the excessive cost of management
control or the shortage of human resources to perform it. A focus on cost often
resulted from an attitude where control was perceived as an unnecessary bureaucracy
imposed by public institutions. Therefore it is so important to understand the
importance of management control in an organisation as a part of their learning and

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38 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

developing processes. Similarly, the necessity to employ staff responsible for

management control might be true for young or small NGOs which do not keep full
accounts, do not apply for grants and subsidies and rely mostly on the involvement of
organisation’s founders and members. Interestingly, in small organisations
performance monitoring does not require more than calculating simple formulas in a
spread-sheet. Personnel shortage is also a more general symptom which reflects
growing difficulty to find people willing to engage in charitable activities.
The third possibility included the conviction that information support to managers
of NGOs had no influence on fulfilling the social mission. Obviously, the quality of
treatment to ill people depends, first of all, on the professional and personal skills of
the employees, but even the extraordinary involvement of the staff may bring
ordinary results when the organisation suffers from financial deficit, lacks the
necessary equipment and its work is poorly organised. A performance monitoring
system does not only help to mitigate organisational deficiencies but also makes
people aware of the positive effects they contributed to, which increases satisfaction
an motivation.
All the responses of the examined group of public benefit organisations (more than
one answer could be selected) proved that NGOs had a positive attitude towards
performance monitoring. A positive influence of management control on the
organisation’s image was reported by 39.7% of NGOs. An even bigger share (43.1%)
suggested that better information support to managers helped to increase effectiveness
and efficiency of operations. More than one organisations in three (36.2%) stated,
however, that management control would require employing extra staff members, and
22.2% that it could generate excessive cost to an organisation. It should be also
pointed out that 32.8% of the examined NGOs found performance monitoring
unimportant to their statutory activities.
Summarising the aforementioned study on Polish public benefit organisations as
of 2006, its results could be compared with the latest accounts coming from 23 public
benefit organisations which answered a survey in the first half of 2014. They made up
a 13.0% of the group of 177 randomly selected Polish public benefit organisations.
Ultimately the project will cover 358 NGOs, with the expected number of positive
replies matching that of the 2006 edition. In consequence, it may be determined to
what extent Polish NGOs were and are conducting activities related to management
control (see Table 1.4).
The information presented in Table 1.4 shows that in 2006 more than one Polish
NGO in seven applied performance monitoring methodology to a significant extent,
even if they did not always belong to the richest cluster of those organisations. This
share increased to one third in 2014. It should be remembered, though, that the latest
results are based only on the responses available at the moment when the chapter was
completed, which represented approximately a half of the final research group.

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 Chapter 1. Management Information Systems for Non-governmental Organisations… 39

Table 1.4. Application of management information systems in Polish NGOs

Scope of performance Results of 2006 (n=58) Results of 2014 (n=23)

monitoring number cumulative number cumulative
(number of criteria met) (share) (share) (share) (share)
Large (4) 1 (1.7%) 1 (1.7%) 2 (8.7%) 2 (8.7%)
Significant (3) 8 (13.8%) 9 (15.5%) 6 (26.1%) 8 (34.8%)
Some (2) 22 (37.9%) 31 (53.4%) 11 (47.8%) 19 (82.6%)
Little (1) 20 (34.5%) 51 (87.9%) 4 (17.4%) 23 (100.0%)
None (0) 7 (12.1%) 58 (100.0%) 0 (0.0%) 23 (100.0%)

Source: own presentation

One of the most evident signs of supporting managers with reliable operational
data was the introduction of a budgeting system. Budgets offer a credible reference
basis to assess actual performance and to initiate remedial measures if necessary.
These opportunities have been appreciated by more and more Polish NGOs (13.8% in
2006 and 47.8% in 2014). Another symptom of performance monitoring was that
reporting was oriented at the organisation’s stakeholders, at that was the feature of
70.7% of NGOs in 2006 and all examined organisations in 2014 (the latter was due to
the availability of electronic versions of the financial and activity statements of all the
public benefit organisations in the database operated by the Department of Public
Benefit at Ministry of Labour and Social Policy). The third indicator reflected regular
– and more frequent than required by legal regulations – reporting for internal
purposes, conducted by 31.0% of NGOs in 2006 and 43.5% in 2014. Finally, the
existence of single posts or departments responsible for management control was
identified in as much as 43.1% of NGOs examined in 2006 and in 34.8% of those
filling in the survey in 2014, which was the only area where a decrease in positive
answers was observed. Considering all the aforementioned facts, it should be
emphasised, that Polish NGOs are interested in monitoring their performance and that
their management information systems are maturing with time.

1.8. Conclusion

As it was mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, its objective was to present
assumptions to methodology of measuring and reporting the effects generated by
NGOs, so that an organisation may build its reputation and gain the support of
external stakeholders. In this respect observations made in particular parts of the
chapter should be briefly concluded.
First of all, non-governmental organisations have to be aware that their existence
and successes, as well as the situation of their beneficiaries, depend on the support of

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40 Part I. Knowledge Generation Process for Controlling Purposes

sponsors, donors, members and volunteers. To receive support, the activities of an

NGO have to be legitimized by successes in fulfilling its social mission. Good ideas
and enthusiasm are essential in this type of an activity, but they will never substitute
the actual effects. These effects balance the trilateral relation between supporters, the
NGO and its beneficiaries. Therefore the organisation needs to collect information on
its performance, about funds received and ways of spending the money, and about the
scope of involvement of its members, employees and volunteers in social work. All
these facts should be thoroughly described, and ideally quantified, or even valuated in
organisational reports.
It should be pointed out that annual obligatory statements as well as reports on
completed tasks contracted with public institutions will be unlikely to suffice for
management purposes. Developing a set of measures which cover the primary,
secondary and internal effects generated by the organisation may help social mangers
to monitor organisational work. The development of a comprehensive management
information system is not beyond the capacities of top NGOs, which was proved by
the results of the empirical research. All in all, it is much more difficult to inspire
people to work for the public benefit than to prepare a budget, a report or even a
descriptive relation to be uploaded onto the organisation’s web-site.

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Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2633043