As part of a new pilot project, five major international charities that focus on child-sponsorship programs are opening their doors for the first time to outside inspectors with the hope that thorough inspections and a new industry seal of approval will ease public concerns over the misuse of donations, the Washington Post reports.

The project, which is being coordinated by InterAction, an umbrella group of 160 international charities, will use Social Accountability International to perform the external reviews. To earn SAI's seal of approval, the five charities — Plan USA, Save the Children, the Christian Children's Fund, World Vision, and Children International — have given the independent inspectors free run of their headquarters and field projects to verify that the groups follow an agreed-upon code of conduct. Groups seeking certification must, among other things, ensure that directors are independent and free of conflicts of interest and that ads accurately depict the destitution of the people the charity aims to help. In addition, the code recommends that administrative and fundraising costs be kept to 35 percent or less of total expenditures.

"This is something new to our sector, to open our organizations up to a level of scrutiny that has not been the norm in the past," said Sam Worthington, chief executive of Plan USA, which has passed its review. "To some degree, you're becoming the nonprofit equivalent of a public company."

The pilot program could exert pressure on hundreds of other groups also competing for billions of dollars in private donations and government grants, eventually leading to a more widespread certification system for nongovernmental organizations. One obstacle to such a development, however, would be the costs associated with any certification system. The five charities in the pilot project paid SAI a total of $250,000 for its work, and smaller charities, especially those in the developing world, might simply find it too expensive and/or difficult to get certified.