Idea 460 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
Charity accounts published by a volunteer auditor, with a mark for those that do
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
Every idea in cluster 24 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Offer the trustees of one temple or charity a free review of last year's accounts, done by you if you are qualified or by a retired accountant who volunteers. Publish a one-page summary with their permission: money in, money out, and what it bought. The proof is trustees who agree, and donors who say the summary made them give again.
- Who pays first
- A temple or charity competing for donors, which pays a small fee because a published audit brings in givers abroad who want proof.
- What leaves today
- Donors give less, or give elsewhere, when they cannot see where money goes; published accounts are the proof that keeps giving at home.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SixThe Fridge by the Road
The fridge by the road: proof that the rules hold - Ch. FifteenThe Odds
13 of 101 countries made it, and what Singapore's prosecution cost
More from cluster 24
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be bought
- 452Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods do
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answers
- 454A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the other
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients named
- 456Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually built
Idea 460 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.