Almost daily the newspaper headlines report the details of yet another corporate scandal. Some of us in the nonprofit sector are tempted to think that we are above such problems. Our motives are so noble, how could anyone question our actions? Our mission drives our organization's decisions, not profits, right?  The facts are that nonprofits are run by people with the same range of ethical standards as the rest of society, and we too have our share of bad apples. In recent years, the Nature Conservancy, the Red Cross, a handful of United Way chapters, and local foundations in several communities has found themselves the target of negative headlines. Such ethical lapses-or perceived ethical lapses-undermine the trust the public holds in the entire sector.
 
What can each of us do to continue to build and hold the trust of our industry as well as the entire nonprofit sector? 
  
As a nonprofit organization, like any publicly held company, the board of directors is the highest governing authority within the management structure. It is the board's job to hire the organization's executive director; evaluate and approve appropriate compensation; evaluate the effectiveness of the agency to ensure it is achieving the stated mission; review and approve the organization's financial statement; and recommend or strongly discourage partnerships, collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions.  In short, the board's primary responsibility at a nonprofit agency is to protect the stakeholders' (community, donors, and clients) interests and ensure they receive what the mission promises, or a decent return on their investment (ROI).
 
When we commit to volunteer our time and expertise to a nonprofit or public entity, it is our responsibility to hold the organization and ourselves to the highest standards of integrity, ethics and accountability. If we do not, we become liable, as the trustees of some nonprofits have discovered, for endorsing anything presented to us without proper due diligence.
 
Our hope is that as more caring citizens take on volunteer civic responsibilities, they will also invest time in learning about those responsibilities and all that is required to ensure the public or community funds and services entrusted to them are not put at risk.

 

There are many ways to become educated about nonprofit governance: make sure your organization uses the professional resources available to them through CRC such as our trainings and workshops and our professional consulting services.  For more than 28 years CRC has served the communities of Colorado and we are committed to continuing the quality of service to Colorado. In addition to CRC here are some other local and national organizations you may find can assist your organization in becoming the best it can be; Colorado Nonprofit Association, your local chapter of SCORE, counselors to America's small business, Metro Volunteers, BoardSource, or visit goodsearch.com and search 'board development' to discover the wealth of resources available to help us all do our good work better!

 

Respectfully,

 

Executive Director 

 

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Sir Winston Churchill