PROJECTS
SPF Program Agenda(2003)


Research for the Concept of Public Interest and the Evaluation Standard of Public-Interest Corporations



5,900,000 yen［Grant Project］
The Japan Association of Charitable Organizations (Japan)


The project will conduct the following activities this year.
  1. Survey Research:
    The structure, objective and research themes for "Research A" and "Research B" are as follows.

    Research A:
    1. Structure
      a) Research Committee (8 members)
      b) Researchers responsible for practical tasks (one person)
      c) lecturers and advisors (4 people)
    2. Objective/Purpose: To come up with a sold definition for "public-interest".
    3. Contents:
      April: Study/analysis of examples in the US regarding the definition of public-interest,
      May: Study/analysis of examples in the UK regarding the definition of public-interest,
      June: working toward coming up with a specific definition

    Research B:
    1. Structure:
      a) Research Committee (ten members)
      b) Working group for researching and translating foreign literature on the subject
    2. Objective/Purpose: Studying the standards applied when monitoring the administration of the public-interest organization.
    3. Contents:
      April: General Discussions
      May: Governance
      June: Compliance
      July: Objective and projects
      August: Disclosure
      September: Finance and Accounting
      October: Evaluation agency
      November: General Discussion


  2. Workshops: Workshops will be held in July and December inviting members of the Diet, government officials, members of public-interest organizations, media, and researchers/scholars. About 100 people are expected to attend each of the workshops, where the abovementioned research results will be announced and opinions exchanged. The workshop aims to promote public discussion on this topic, and have the research results reflected in discussions at the governmental level.


(A one-year project)