The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate several organizations who recently earned or renewed their accreditation under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector: CALMRA, Inc., Beltsville, MD End Times Harvest Ministries, New Carrolton, MD Pathfinders for Autism, Hunt Valley, MDThe Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate the following organization that has earned their recognition under the[…]

The following post was written by Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant Carmen C. Marshall and is part of our "Ten Years of Advancing Excellence" blog series, celebrating ten years of the Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant program. Carmen specializes in performance improvement, ideation and execution, communications, marketing, organizational development, training and executive coaching. As a management consultant, Carmen has helped numerous leaders, executives, and[…]

SAVE – Saving Animals Volunteer Effort – was created in September of 2009 when concerned citizens from two Alabama counties came to together to address the problem of animal homelessness and overcrowding in animal shelters. Their efforts have been to spay and neuter pets, and feral cars, to reduce the population of unwanted animals, and hope for a day when every pet has a home. SAVE has been accredited with Standards for Excellence Institute since 2015. I recently got the opportunity to speak[…]

Nonprofit program evaluation refers to the process of gathering data about a service or program an organization offers to determine its effectiveness. Nonprofits that thoroughly and strategically evaluate their programs show a commitment to the communities they serve by identifying their successes and challenges. More and more charitable donors now expect to see an evaluation plan in the programs they fund. The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit[…]

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 The Public Justice Center was founded in 1985 as a nonprofit legal advocacy organization. Since its inception the PJC has been focused on systemic change through legal services. The PJC’s efforts focus on confronting unjust laws, practices and institutions, particularly those affecting people living in poverty. The PJC takes a dynamic approach to systemic change by functioning as a legal services office as well as a policy campaign leader, and a community action partner to attack systemic[…]

The following post was written by Issela Sono, Nonprofit Management and Governance Intern at the Standards for Excellence Institute®. Issela has volunteered in various nonprofit organizations in the Maryland and Washington, DC area while pursuing her undergraduate studies in Global Business and Public Policy. Issela is certified in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and is currently pursuing a M.B.A., with a concentration in Public Management, at Hood College. News coverage about fraud in[…]

Ethics, Standards and Accreditation: The Impact on Nonprofit Organizations Join the Standards for Excellence Institute and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management for a special webinar/briefing to learn about updates and changes to the Standards for[…]

The ethics field lost a giant last week when Rushworth Kidder, President and Founder of the Institute for Global Ethics in Rockport, Maine passed way in Naples Florida.While I am sorry to say that I never personally met Rush, I was an avid reader of his publications and works and I often cited a quote from his writings.  My favorite Rushworth Kidder quote was:“…because nonprofits have an obligation to do the right things-often wrenching choices among competing priorities, and having to ask what[…]

 Recent news about the bankruptcy filing at Baltimore Behavioral Health Center is a startling and disturbing example of what can go wrong when nonprofits don’t do all that they can to keep their work ethical, accountable, and above board.The story reads like a “how to get your name in the paper” manual: allegations like blatant instances of conflicts of interest, related individuals that were both board members and staff members, hiring practices that did not screen for individuals on federal[…]