Is a rosy agency report a sign of fraud?
Usually not. It is an agency reaching for the flattering metrics while the ones that dipped stay off the slide. The effect on decisions is the same as if it were deliberate.
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Is your charity's agency marking its own homework?
Sometimes, without meaning to. On a recent charity project I put the incumbent agency's monthly reports next to the actual analytics, and they did not match: the reports led with the numbers that went up and quietly left out the ones that did not. The fix is to read reports sceptically. Ask what got worse and why, ask what the figures mean for donations, volunteers and enquiries, and now and then check the raw analytics yourself or have someone independent do it.
What happens when an agency reports on its own work?
The report drifts towards the good news. On a recent charity project I set an incumbent agency's monthly reports beside the actual analytics. The story the charity had been told was noticeably sunnier than the data. There was nothing dramatic and no fraud, just an agency leading with the numbers that rose and leaving out the ones that fell.
Most of the time this is human rather than dishonest. An agency wants to show progress, so it reaches for the flattering metrics, and the ones that dipped do not make the slide. The charity, busy and without digital specialists, takes a professional-looking report at face value. The effect is the same as if it were deliberate: you believe things are going better than they are, you keep paying, the real problems go unaddressed, and the one number that would tell you something useful is the one that is missing. With donated or public money, that matters more than almost anywhere else.
What should a charity check in its agency's reports?
The figures that were left out. Reading the reports sceptically now and then is enough; nobody needs to become an analyst. Ask what got worse this quarter, and why. Ask what the numbers mean for the mission, because traffic that never becomes a donation, a volunteer or an enquiry is vanity. And occasionally look at the raw analytics yourself, or have someone independent do it. A report tightens up quickly once the agency knows it will be checked.
How can you tell whether the agency is a good one?
By how it handles being checked. A good agency welcomes these questions and has honest answers, including the uncomfortable ones. If the questions meet defensiveness, or the room goes quiet, that is your answer, and it is worth acting on.
Related evidence: Care home charity – digital strategy. Earlier in this journey: The charity digital spend checklist: questions to answer before you commit a penny.
Questions people ask
Why does checking agency reports matter more for a charity?
Because the money is donated or public, and trustees are accountable to funders for every pound, including the spend an agency reports on.
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