Donor Demands, Conflicts of Interest, and Tainted Money Are Fundraisers’ Top Ethical Concerns

Conflicts of interest, tainted money, and donors making excessive demands about how charities use their gifts are fundraisers’ top ethical concerns, according to a new survey of Association of Fundraising Professionals members.

The 558 respondents said that workplace issues such as sexual harassment and working with leaders and board members who aren’t familiar with ethical fundraising practices are also important concerns.

AFP conducted the online survey this summer to gauge awareness of the association’s ethical resources, identify the ethical issues of greatest concern to its members, and pinpoint potential changes to its Code of Ethical Principles. The association shared a summary of the survey findings with the Chronicle and plans to post the full results eventually.

These results come toward the end of Ethics Awareness Month, which AFP plans to repeat in future Octobers to highlight its Code of Ethical Standards and provide resources to equip fundraisers with the tools and skills they need to navigate the ethical quandaries they face in their careers.

What’s Your Dilemma?

The survey asked fundraisers how often they deal with ethical dilemmas at work and how prepared they are to respond.

Almost 50 percent of respondents said they typically face ethical challenges or dilemmas once a year, close to 17 percent said roughly six times a year, and 8 percent once a month. Twenty-three percent reported never having had to address such a situation. The survey did not specifically define the meaning of “challenge” or “dilemma.”

When asked to rate their preparedness to respond to an ethical dilemma on a scale of 1 to 5 — with 5 meaning most prepared — respondents reported an average rating of 3.96.

The survey also asked respondents about which common ethical issues they need more guidance and resources. Almost half cited donor control and restrictions on how gifts can be used, 41 percent cited conflicts of interest, and 40 percent cited tainted donor money.

Respondents said they wanted AFP to tackle issues like sexual harassment, racial and gender bias, working with elderly donors, and online crowdfunding platforms — either through its Code of Ethics or other means. Some said that the field of fundraising also needs a code of ethics or a behavior policy for donors, including how they behave with fundraisers.

In addition, 59 percent of survey respondents said the U.S. and Canadian governments should ask nonprofits about their adherence to the AFP Code of Ethics in their federal filing documents.

“AFP is looking at how we can increase the awareness and usage of ethical standards in fundraising, and having governments check if charities are abiding by a code of ethics can be a critical way to do that,” Robbe Healey, chair of AFP’s Ethics Committee, said in a statement. “We have not put together any sort of formal proposal or recommendation, but we wanted to gauge member interest and support for the idea.”

Eden Stiffman reports on nonprofit trends and fundraising for the Chronicle. She recently interviewed MIT’s Epstein Whistle blower about her own lack of fundraising ethics training, and other topics. She also writes a popular weekly fundraising newsletter . Email Eden or follow her on Twitter .