transparency awards

The Michael Paul Wein Charitable Foundation

"Underpromise and Overdeliver"

transparency

These awards were offered (and distributed) in 2005. They may no longer be offered so email us first if you are interested in entering this competition and see if it is being offered at the present time. The Lions Club (winner of a us$1,200 award in 2005) had its entry prepared by an individual that left town shortly afterwards. As a result, The Lions Club may or may not be able to have someone else in their organization prepare (see below for information regarding "improvements from year to year") better financial statements in 2006, which is and was the whole reason behind our offering such awards.

These awards will be made to ANY non-profit charitable organization in San Miguel (other than to our current ongoing grantees, however, see note 1 below).

The purpose of the transparency awards is to encourage greater transparency in the presentation of financial and other information from organizations that solicit funds from the public. We will not only grant three monetary awards, but we will also publicly endorse organizations' transparency methods and their reporting to the public. If that aids the organization in their fund-raising efforts, so much the better. In addition, all award winning organizations will be shown on this web-site (see table at bottom of this page).

Rules and criteria:

	contest is open to any non-profit charitable organization (other than our current grantees; however, see note 1 below) that solicits funds from the public and benefits life in San Miguel
	an entry must consist of all of the following:

a complete copy of the prior year's financial statements (to be considered as your base year) and a copy of the more current year's financial statements (as a combined entry into the contest)

a narrative section answering the following question: are these financial statements available upon request to each of the following (answer yes or no to each):

every member of your management and trustees?

all of your volunteers?

all of your employees?

any donor?

any prospective donor?

any of your beneficiaries (i.e., the objects of your mission)?

anyone else who merely asks?

All entries may be submitted on papers left in a closed envelope at Box 77A, La Conexion, Aldama #3 or (preferably, if criticism is requested) sent by email to mpwinsma@cybermatsa.com.mx

	consideration will be given to improvements from year to year, completeness and full disclosure, understandability for a first-time reader, etc., etc., etc. It might be helpful to you to remember that financial statements are not numbers, but fully and consistently presented narratives (words) that are merely quantified by numbers.
	awards will go to organizations that are most open in financial statements that communicate fully how they obtain funds and how they use these funds. Completeness of financial statements that show comparative information is best. The 3 awards for 2005 will be us$1,200, us$600, us$300. All awards will be paid on approximately June 15, 2005.
	if an organization exhibits good financial reporting, it may become eligible to be an ongoing grantee without having to go through this competition each year.
	if your organization wishes constructive criticisms that will enable you to make an even better submission in the planned contest for the following year, an email entry is preferable assuming the email (and/or attachments) can be physically edited by our own judges prior to returning the edits to you with our comments and criticisms.
	in the future, consideration for awards also be given to organizations that understand and implement our recommendations.
	all entries for this year must be received by May 15th. Any entries received after that date will be retained for our contest planned for next year (although any organization may retract such entries and substitute new entries for next year, if they wish).

As background information that will be useful to any organizations entering the competition, we suggest you click on the following links:

	the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and public disclosure
	why this info is even more necessary to your own organization
	see IRS financials for information required to state you are "tax deductible"
	examples useful in preparing financial statements for any purpose
	I believe (some thoughts that went into "why this contest")
	Ongoing grantee requirements - subsequent years

note 1 - the only criteria for eligibility that an organization must meet is listed on our web-page Eligibility under the heading "Each new grantee organization MUST:" Due to legal considerations described more fully on that page, we must insist that the first 4 criteria be met; no other criteria on that page must necessarily be met.

The awards for: the year 2005 (a) the year 2006 the year 2007

for coming closest to our criteria for best disclosure to all constituent readers US$1,200 to The Lions Club

2nd place award US$600 to CASA

3rd place award not awarded as we did not receive a 3rd entry

Honorable mentions: none

Invited to participate, but did not submit any information at all Patronato Pro Ninos, Biblioteca, Mujares en Cambio, Casa Hogar, IREE, Casa de los Angeles, American Legion Auxiliary, FAI, Crescimiento

Notes applicable to the above Table of Awards:

(a)- The Lions Club, after years of submitting poor statements, finally did prepare good statements in 2005. On the other hand, C.A.S.A submitted statements that lacked even the barest of disclosures, and was awarded 2nd prize ONLY because there was no third entry.

This is one of only a few pages that may be modified after the Founder's disability, incapacitation, or death. For more information, see subsequent changes

Send all e-mail to mpwinsma@gmail.com with any questions or comments about this web site. SPECIFY EXACTLY (using copy and paste) (and mentioning this page name) what your question or comment refers to. Note: in the event that the above information is no longer accurate, see the newer web-page listing various subsequent changes to this web-site after the founder's death.
Copyright © 2000-2005 The Michael Paul Wein Charitable Foundation, Inc