Local zoo has greater financial transparency than Electronic Frontier Foundation

Despite a board of directors that includes prestigious legal scholars such as Professor Pamela Samuelson, and prominent alumni like über geek and SF author Cory Doctorow, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based public charity founded in 1990 that defends the digital rights of consumers, probably will not be winning any Best Practices awards for financial disclosure and transparency (D&T) in the near future. Here’s the extent of EFF’s online commitment to D&T, for all you gamers who are keeping score at home:

• 2008-2009 Annual Report

• 2007 Annual Report

• 2006 Annual Report

Contrast that with these documents, all posted on the website of the San Francisco Zoo, a decades-old, bricks-and-mortar nonprofit whose most famous resident was Monarch the grizzly bear:

• 2008-2009 Zoo Views Annual Report (coming soon!)

• 2009 Audited Financial Statement

• 2008 Annual Report Issue of Zoo Views Magazine

• 2008 Audited Financial Statement

• 2007 IRS 990 Form

• 2007 Audited Financial Statement

• 2006 IRS 990 Form

• 2006 Audited Financial Statement

• 2005 IRS 990 Form

• 2004 IRS 990 Form

• 2003 IRS 990 Form

• 2002 IRS 990 Form

If the Electronic Frontier Foundation wants consumers to type in credit card numbers so they can make generous donations and purchase cheap swag, it should at least have the courtesy to post its audited financial statements. I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh Monarch?