Surprisingly, it seems that accountability and transparency are issues on which several NGOs are found wanting--something you wouldn't have expected since they are advocates of improved corporate governance in the private sector and transparency in government. Indeed, given how large the NGO sector is, it is disturbing to learn that there isn't better governance generally. SustainAbility puts the value of the NGO sector at over $1 trillion a year. A hundredth of that much money badly spent is still a lot of money squandered.

For us, the report reinforces a suspicion of hypocrisy we've long held about many NGOs. No question, many provide real value for donor dollars--NGOs are a diverse lot, after all. There are too many of them to name, but you know which ones they are. They are those working to improve human rights in the many dark corners of the world; those that work on behalf of children; those that appreciate the delicate calculations man must make to exploit his world in order to survive and prosper. And so on.

But such groups are outmatched by those for whom activism is almost a religion. There is perhaps no better example of this than those that militate for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions through the Kyoto protocol--despite the fact that the science isn't incontrovertible, and that the cost of compliance reportedly could pay for what every Third World child really needs: clean water. Then there are those who argue for keeping the environment completely intact and nature unsullied by human hands. (We know who they are because we get their press releases--previously sent by fax but now by e-mail.) How long would they last in an original Sarawak longhouse?

SustainAbility's report brings welcome debate to the condition of many NGOs. "Investors" in charities may now want to ask if many of their causes don't deserve reform themselves.