Clinton Foundation is open and accountable: Opposing view

We belong to a group of Clinton Foundation initiative heads who have extensive backgrounds in global development, the corporate world and philanthropy. We were drawn to the foundation for the same reasons as our more than 300,000 supporters around the world — its unique philanthropic model and its organizationwide focus on efficiency, innovation and impact.

Recently, questions have been raised about the foundation, but in our long and diverse careers, we have encountered very few, if any, large non-profits that match it in transparency and accountability.

Any global charity whose mission is to improve lives quickly and efficiently will sometimes make mistakes. When they do happen, the Clinton Foundation is committed to correcting them.

All charities need support to scale and sustain their programs, and the foundation is no different. But unlike most charities, the foundation voluntarily discloses contributors' names.

The truth is, when people support the Clinton Foundation, they want something in return: They want to see lives improved; they want to see communities, businesses and governments working together to address problems that we all face and collectively have the know-how and resources to fix.

For example, support from the Dutch government has allowed us to train more than 85,000 smallholder farmers in sustainable techniques so they can improve their food security, increase their incomes and combat climate change. Funding from Australia and Germany makes it possible to work with local communities to restore degraded land in ways that are environmentally and economically beneficial.

This week, President Clinton will visit with some of the smallholder farmers we're helping in Tanzania, as well as our government partners in Kenya with whom we are working to develop better land management systems.

We will always look for new, better ways to help people, and we will never shy away from challenges. That is what the Clinton Foundation does every day, and that is why we are proud to work here.

Dymphna van der Lans and Walker Morris are the CEOs of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Clinton Development Initiative, respectively.