Governance & Compliance

As a not for profit social enterprise serving marginalized people, Ushahidi is meticulous in its management of finances, governance, and compliance, including funding provided by external entities.
Because of the precision with which we undertake our duty of fiduciary care, we have always passed all official audits, whether of the company’s finances, compliance, or governance. Our financial status is a matter of public record, with each audit published here on our website.

All our compliance, governance, and financials are audited annually by an independent firm based in the United States of America (USA). US audits are conducted with an unqualified opinion - an unqualified opinion is an independent auditor’s judgment that a company’s financial records and statements are fairly and appropriately presented, and in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). An unqualified opinion is the most common type of auditor’s report. In addition, we submit to the United States government every audit report and related 990 US Internal Revenue Services (IRS) form, which provides the public with financial information about a non profit organization. You can find all these reports here.

All our funders reference the annual audits before entering into agreements with us. Almost all of them require additionally monthly, quarterly, and annual reports. Some conduct their own additional audits. Such additional audits include governance and compliance as well. Two of these additional audits that have been conducted in the past four years are by the US State Department and the government of the United Kingdom (UK)’s DFID. The audits ensure that Ushahidi meets the exacting governance and compliance standards for funding set by the US and UK.

Since our inception, Ushahidi has never been denied funding because of financial, governance, or compliance issues.