Welcome to the new-look Friends of Londiani site. It’s easier to navigate, easier to understand and looks rather nice too – at least we do hope so. Have a look round and let us know what you think. But before you do that, we’d like to ask you this question: what makes a charity good?

That question came via the recently launched website www.goodcharity.ie. In this context we’re not using the word ‘good’ to mean ‘good-hearted’, ‘helpful’ or ‘committed’, although we’d hope most charities are inspired by such traits. We’re talking about “charities that are open, transparent and fully accountable for their work”.

That, incidentally, is a quote from Hans Zomer, Director of Dóchas, Ireland’s umbrella body of overseas development and humanitarian organisations. Dóchas is one of the groups that developed the Good Charity initiative, and we at Friends of Londiani strongly support it. People in Ireland have been remarkably generous to charities, even at a time of great personal economic difficulty for many of them. They have a right to expect that the charities they support can not only say that they are managed and run properly and efficiently but also prove it.
Ireland does now have a charities regulator of course, which is doing a lot to encourage confidence in the sector. You can have a look at our 16 December 2013 blog for a comment on that as well our formal statement at here.

But charities should also communicate directly with the people from whom they ask for financial help and moral support. Hence www.goodcharity.ie, which aims to increase transparency in the charity sector by providing information that will help members of the public to evaluate charities before they donate money or volunteer their time. GoodCharity.ie also aims to develop a better understanding of what charities do and how they operate.

Which brings us back to the new Friends of Londiani site. We’ve always aimed to keep people informed, not just about what we do but about the finance and funding that helps us to do it. Under Resources you can find our annual reports and financial details as well. But elsewhere on the site you can also find some great examples of what we've done, some personal responses to our work and a lot on what we're trying to achieve. So please have a look round. We do hope you find what we do interesting – and good.