Potential Usefulness of Public Information for Management in Nonprofit Organizations in Bogotá: A Documentary Analysis

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) require accessible and structured public information that can serve as an input for analysis and management processes. This study aimed to analyze the availability, formalization, traceability, and validation of public information from NPOs in Bogotá in order to assess its potential usefulness for management. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was conducted, complemented by a documentary analysis of 29 organizations. The results showed that 86.2% had an accessible or sufficiently identifiable public source, and 82.8% presented some component of transparency. However, only 41.4% published reports or institutional documents, 20.7% published data processing or privacy policies, and 48.3% published quantitative information. Significant associations were identified between availability and documentary formalization (r = .898, p < .001), availability and high validation (r = .722, p < .001), and documentary formalization and high validation (r = .632, p < .001). The study concludes that the potential usefulness of public information for management depends not only on its availability but also on the conditions that support its formalization, traceability, validation, and interpretation.