|
 Is
My Nonprofit Ethical?
Corporate and nonprofit scandals—we read about them more than
we have in the past. In the nonprofit sector, volunteers, the public
and paid staff are asking “How do I know if a nonprofit is ethical?”
Recently I asked this question at a workshop I was conducting, and the
following were some of the answers we came up with:
An ethical nonprofit:
- Does what it says it is doing
- Lives its mission
- Works for the public good
- Uses its resources—staff, volunteers and money—responsibly
- Has financial controls in place
- Practices risk management
- Spends its money where it says it is spending it
- Has fair personnel practices
- Files governmental forms accurately and on time
- Obeys lobbying restrictions
- Has reasonable fund raising and other administrative costs
- Pays its executive director a salary that is in line with other
organizations that have a similar budget
- Has an active and involved governing board
What would you add?
Jeannebrad@aol.com
For more on nonprofit ethics, see Independent
Sector’s Ethics and Accountability.
Interested in more information on boards? Check out our online
bookstore for: The Board Member’s Guide: A Beneficial Bestiary.
In the Show field, select Jeanne Bradner from the list
and click the Show button to view this book as well as other
titles by the author.
|
Other
good sources for information on boards and committees:
|
Jeanne H. Bradner
Jeanne H. Bradner is
an author, consultant, trainer and speaker on volunteerism, board
development and leadership. She is the author of three publications,
Passionate
Volunteerism, The
Board Member's Guide, A Beneficial Bestiary and
Leading Volunteers for Results: Building Communities Today.
She served as director
of the Illinois Governor's Office of Voluntary Action, Midwest Regional
Director of ACTION, and Executive Director of the Illinois Commission
on Community Service. She is the volunteer program specialist for
Illinois' Harper College Volunteer Management curriculum.
Send your comments and questions
to Jeannebrad@aol.com
Return
to Top
A
Service of MBA Publishing
925 "E" Street
Walla Walla, WA 99362
VOICE : (509) 529-0244
EMAIL: editor@volunteertoday.com
All
materials copyright protected
©2003
|
The
content of all linked sites are beyond the control Volunteer
Today and
the newsletter assumes no responsibility for their content.
|
|
