Ethical Fundraising

Transparency inspires confidence. Nonprofit organizations can demonstrate a commitment to ethical fundraising by incorporating the following best practices :

a) Solicitation materials should be truthful and clearly identify the organization’s mission, the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.

b) Contributions should be used in a manner consistent with the donor’s intent. The board should set a clear tone in this regard and monitor the use of donor-restricted contributions.

c) Specific acknowledgement of contributions should be provided in accordance with IRS requirements

d) The nonprofit should adopt policies to determine whether accepting certain types of gifts could compromise ethics, financial circumstances, program focus or other interests.

e) Employees and volunteers that solicit gifts should be trained and supervised, so that they understand the laws and regulations governing solicitation and be professional in nature. Donors should feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.

f) Donors should have access to the organization’s most recent financial statements.

g) Nonprofit should always respect the privacy of the donors. Except where disclosure is required by law, the nonprofit should not sell or otherwise make available the names and contact information of its donors, without providing them the opportunity, at least annually, to opt out of the use of their information.