Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards

Nominations for the 2011 Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards are now closed.

Awards Program Overview

Accountability and transparency are of growing importance in the not-for-profit sector. They allow donors to make informed decisions about where they give, they help keep staff and volunteers motivated, they let directors demonstrate their organization's integrity, and they build confidence among an often cynical public. The Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards (VSRAs) give not-for-profit organizations a valuable opportunity to prove that they take the issue of high quality reporting seriously.

The VSRAs were created in 2008 by the CA-Queen's Centre for Governance, a partnership between the Queen's School of Business and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. PwC has been a program sponsor since its inception. The awards program continues to evolve and innovate with the separation of the international and national charitable organizations category in two separate categories in 2011. Financial awards are given to annual reports that demonstrate the highest levels of accountability and transparency, and communicate effectively with beneficiaries, donors and stakeholders. The awards are designed to recognize the quality of reporting in the not-for-profit sector and aim to:

• Reward best practices in financial and non-financial disclosure
• Raise the standard of not-for-profit annual reports including the provision of higher quality financial information in those reports
• Encourage more voluntary sector organizations to provide their financial information online

The awards are administered by the CA-Queen's Centre for Governance.

• Eligibility and deadline
• Selection criteria and process
• How to enter
• Award categories and prizes
• Awards luncheon
• Rules summary

Eligibility and deadline

Awards are open to all registered charities excluding organizations whose principal activities are run by or for municipalities, universities, hospitals or school boards (i.e. the MUSH sector). Eligible organizations for the 2010 competition should be headquartered in Ontario. Divisions of national and international organizations that produce separate annual reports in Ontario are also eligible. Eligible organizations must have audited financial statements either included in the annual report or submitted with the report to complete the nomination.

The judging takes place in early fall. Recipients will then be announced at the awards luncheon in November 2011.

Selection criteria and process

Judges assess the annual reports on the following criteria:

• Availability: Are the report and accounts easy to find online or are they made readily available to stakeholders? For example, if online, can the report be found within three clicks of the homepage, through a search facility or site map? Are hard copy reports unavailable online distributed promptly to all stakeholders in a manner appropriate to the organization?
• Clarity: Is your organization's mission clearly stated? Is it easy to find your organization's achievements?
• User-friendliness: Is there a good balance of design, content and functionality? Have graphs and pictures been used? Does your report complement other areas of your organization's communications strategy? Accessibility: Is your report easy to read and available in more than one format such as a download option from your website?
• Accessibility: Is it easy to read and comprehend? Is it available in alternative formats (e.g. downloadable if on screen, large type face if print etc)?
• Impact: Does your reporting demonstrate openness and transparency? Do your reports tell a story to draw your supporters into your work? Does it include quality financial and non-financial results? Does it give information about the future?

A screening group will evaluate the annual reports for technical merit. The highest scoring annual reports will go through to the second stage and be judged by an independent panel of experts.

The winners will be announced at the Awards luncheon in November. Once the awards have been announced, each entrant will receive general feedback. Those that make the short list will receive additional comments from the judges on their reports based on the selection criteria listed.

To learn factors that contribute to excellent reports, read: "Best in Class" Annual Reports: Results from a Focus Group and Imagine Canada's The Ethical Code, especially section C.

How to enter

To nominate an organization please complete the nomination form on-line by July 31, 2011.

Entries must include a link to your organization's most recent annual report including the audited financial statements if it is available online. However, if your annual report is not available online or if it does not contain the audited financial statements, you will be asked to e-mail an electronic version or mail a hard copy of the report or the audited financial statements upon submission of the nomination form. In this case you must also add a statement explaining when and how the hard copy annual report and/or financial statements are distributed to the organization's stakeholders and how this is sufficient to meet your organization's accountability to its stakeholders.

The VSRA will not penalize organizations that provide only hard copies of their annual reports or their audited financial statements as long as this explanation accompanies their nomination.

Award categories and prizes

Organizations will be entered into one of five categories:

• Nationally focused organizations headquartered in Ontario
• Internationally focused organizations headquartered in Ontario
• Total revenues over $10 million
• Total revenues from over $1 million to $10 million
• Total revenues less than $1 million

A $5,000 award for training and development will be granted to the entrant with the best annual report in each category.

All entrants will be invited to attend the awards luncheon. Award recipients and short-listed organizations will receive a certificate of commendation and judges' feedback.

 Awards luncheon

The awards luncheon will be held in November in Toronto. More details will follow shortly.

Rules summary

1. Awards are open to all voluntary sector organizations (international, national, provincial and local) whose head office is located in the province of Ontario. Divisions of national organizations that produce annual reports in Ontario separate from their national organizations are also eligible.
2. Voluntary sector organizations, for purposes of this year's awards, are defined as those organizations that are registered charities (i.e. have received status to give income tax receipts under the Income Tax Act) excluding organizations whose principal activities are run by or for municipalities, universities, hospitals or school boards (i.e. the MUSH sector). Please enquire to CA-Queen’s Centre for Governance if there is any doubt about your organization’s status.
3. Only publicly available annual reports (accompanied by the audited financial statements) will be accepted and judged.
   • If the annual report accompanied by the audited financial statements is available on line at a publicly assessable website provided by the nominator at the time of nomination it is taken as presumptive evidence that the annual report is available to stakeholders. The report can be an interactive part of the website, a PDF format or downloadable Word document.
   • If the annual report accompanied by the audited financial statements is not available on-line the nominator must submit a copy of the report and financial statements as an email attachment (or in paper form) with a statement explaining when and how they are distributed to the organization's relevant community of stakeholders. Adequate explanation that this distribution is all that is necessary to meet this organization's accountability to stakeholders MUST be provided. Entities will not be disadvantaged for paper only distribution as long as an explanatory statement accompanies their nomination.
4. Entrants must submit the most up-to-date annual report (accompanied by the audited financial statements) for the most recently completed fiscal period. NOTE: This means that the report will be for the fiscal year ending in the previous year even for organizations with year ends early in 2010 (i.e. nominate the March 31, 2009 annual report in 2010 due to the timing of the awards judging process).
5. Entrants should ensure that the online annual report remains online and is not altered in any way over the judging period.
6. Awards shall be made based on four sizes of organization with size based on total revenues from all sources plus the category national and international focused organizations headquartered in Ontario. The nominator makes the initial classification in the nomination, but the CA-Queen's Centre for Governance classification based on review of the annual report is final.
7. The awards are only open to organizations with financial statements drawn up in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that have been audited in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.
8. Once the awards have been announced, each entry will receive a copy of the technical screeners' completed checklist providing feedback about annual report format and presentation issues.
9. The jury's decision is binding and no correspondence about the results is possible.
10. Entrants that make the short list will receive any additional comments from the judges on their reports based on the final criteria for awards.
11. Nominations must be received by July 31, 2011 by CA-Queen's Centre for Governance using the nomination form available through this link.