How to … Make a Nonprofit More Ethical
Writing for GuideStar, nonprofit branding consultant Larry Checco argues that how an organization acts is intricately linked with how it is perceived. With that in mind, he presents five suggestions on how “to operate on a high moral and ethical plane—and keep [your] brand strong and healthy.” Some are on the obvious side (”Recruit and hire well. Be transparent about your finances.”), but others have aspects you may not have thought of:
- Educate staff about what’s at risk. Ethical lapses can have extraordinarily serious legal and fiscal consequences; it’s not just about the hit your reputation would take. Do your employees, volunteers, and board members realize this?
- Speak truth to authority. Lower-level staff members who are afraid that the messenger will get shot will not come forward and blow the whistle when it might do some good. Set up good-faith mechanisms to allow them to tell management that they smell something fishy, and protect them from retaliation.
- Legal should not be the litmus test. This one’s the kicker. As I’ve written before, because many people see the sector as more inherently noble, when compromised ethics become public, the perception is that the offending organization has farther to fall. The news is bigger, and people are more disappointed. The lesson: It doesn’t have to be illegal to be seen as wrong. | 501(c)
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