Divulgação Voluntária de Informação e Sustentabilidade: O Setor Social Português

The missions of social economy organizations are constantly challenged in terms of management, to be effective, accountable and transparent while at the same time ensuring responsible, inclusive and participatory decision-making. The heavy dependence on state funds or social fundraising requires robust transparency, in order, to demonstrate the true and real application of this support and its correspondence with the respective expenditure in the fulfilment of their missions. As the accountability process is a duty and an opportunity for these organizations, given the limited research in this area in Portugal, this study was developed with and for social organizations, with the aim of building an index that guides voluntary disclosure and integrated reporting of social, economic and environmental sustainability.

This index was validated by a representative sample of social economy organizations in Portugal and allowed us to understand their levels of voluntary disclosure of information in fundamental dimensions, namely the organizational profile, strategy, ethics, governance, stakeholders and reporting practices, integrating economic, social and environmental sustainability.

We hope that this edition will be seen as a practical tool that will contribute to the generalized adoption of voluntary disclosure practices in the social economy, that it will encourage the raising of issues with different stakeholder groups and that it will benefit from continuous renewal in order to contribute to a more socially responsible, sustainable and legitimate sector.