Pressure has been growing in recent years on non-governmental organisations in Europe and North America to be more transparent about how they operate and to be more accountable to their members and stakeholders.

In a pattern that mirrors pressure on companies to improve their ethical standards, high-profile and influential groups such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Oxfam have felt the need to draw up and publish policies on how exactly they are implementing their mission statements, along with more detailed declarations on finances and fundraising.