Those of us who work in the charitable community know that our reputation is one of our most important assets.
When we have the trust of our donors, our community, our staff, and board, we’re better off for it. Part of that trust comes from working as good faith actors. In 2004, Congress asked the charitable community to propose reforms to prove we were actually good faith actors and we came together as a sector to tell them, we got this. We told them we would check ourselves. Independent Sector led the charge by creating the Panel of the Nonprofit Sector, and that panel gave several reform recommendations, some that became law and others that were turned into the Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice.
So in the spirit of always checking ourselves, Independent Sector will be highlighting each of our 33 Principles in a weekly blog series titled, Keeping It Ethical. Each week we will highlight at least one of our 33 Principles and the excellent resources that exist across the sector to help you ensure your organization is operating ethically.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s 2018. No one cares about ethics anymore! But if our sector is going to continue to be a trusted and good faith actor in the world, we believe that it is our responsibility to keep checking ourselves.
With each weekly post, we hope that you’ll also check us. Are we missing a good resource associated with each Principle? Do you wish our Principles went a little bit further in keeping us ethical? We want to hear that too. Leave your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you think. You can also use #npethics on social media.
Stay tuned for a new installment of Keeping it Ethical every week.
