HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute
World-Class Hub for Sustainability
Hong Kong NGO Transparency Index
Hong Kong NGO Transparency Index
Objectives
This index measures the transparency and governance practices of non-profit organizations (NGOs) in Hong Kong. The primary goal is to create a public ranking system that incentivizes NGOs to disclose basic information, thereby building public trust and improving sector-wide accountability.
By creating a transparent database and index, we aim to help funders make informed decisions, encourage government-funded organizations to improve disclosure, and ultimately professionalize the philanthropic sector in Hong Kong.
Key Innovation
Unlike traditional sustainability indices that focus on corporate sustainability or program outcomes, this index uniquely focuses on organizational transparency as a foundational metric for the non-profit sector.
Inspired by the Transparency Index methodology (Hollyer, Rosendorff & Vreeland, 2014) which uses item response models to assess government data disclosure, our approach adapts this framework to evaluate NGO transparency through publicly available documents.
The innovation lies in creating a systematic, replicable measurement of what most assessments overlook: whether NGOs simply disclose basic governance information like annual reports, financial statements, and board composition. Our motivation is that without basic disclosure, more sophisticated impact measurement is impossible.
Variables and Formats
| Income | |
| Lump Sum Grant Subvention Amount by Social Welfare Department | $0.00 |
| Government Project Fund | $0.00 |
| HKJC Charities Trust (including Community Project Grant & Project Fund) | $0.00 |
| Income from Donation and Fundraising Activity | $0.00 |
| Service & Programs Fee | $0.00 |
| Investment and Interest | $0.00 |
| Social Enterprise | $0.00 |
| Others Income (If any) | $0.00 |
| Total Income | $0.00 |
| Expenditure | |
| Service & Program Expenditure | $0.00 |
| Fundraising Costs | $0.00 |
| Administrative Expenditure | $0.00 |
| Social Enterprise | $0.00 |
| Other Expenses (If any) | $0.00 |
| Total Expenditure | $0.00 |
Program Design
- Clearly Stated Planning and Design
- Data Collection and Analysis
- Reporting and Distribution of Results
- Program-Level Impact Evaluation
Auditing and Disclosure
- Audited Financial Statements / Audit Oversight Committee
- Donor Composition
- Board Members Listed On The Website
- Key Staff Members Listed On The Website
- Audited Financials Listed On The Website
- Annual Report Listed On the Website
Auditing and Disclosure
- Programs Expense Ratio: 78.1%
- Liabilities to Assets Ratio: 54.9%
- Admin Expense Ratio: 23.6%
- Working Capital: 2,341,310.6
- Fundraising Efficiency: 23
Scope
- Mission Statement
- Strategic Goals
- Feedback Collection
Methodology
Our methodology follows an adapted version of the HRV Transparency Index methodology (Hollyer, Rosendorff & Vreeland, 2014) approach, using an item response model to analyse missingness patterns in publicly available NGO data. We collect information from over 400 NGOs (expanding to 900+), focusing initially on government-funded organizations as a starting point.
Key steps:
- Data Collection: Obtain annual reports and financial statements from the Companies Registry, digitized using OCR technology with manual verification
- Variable Coding: Assign binary or ordinal scores based on document availability and content completeness
- Index Construction: Apply item response model and Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to create a latent transparency score, accounting for varying difficulty of disclosure (e.g., publishing financials vs. maintaining social media)
- Validation: Cross-check results with independent datasets and spot-audit a random sample
This approach ensures consistency and replicability while recognizing that transparency is not just for effectiveness but also has its internal meaning to build public trust.
Coverage
Registered NGOs and non-profit companies in Hong Kong
Update Frequency
Annual updates, aligned with the release of new financial reports and annual returns.
