Our mission is to promote the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations, and to facilitate adherence to those standards by all nonprofit organizations.
The centerpiece of the Institute’s program is the Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. The Institute also publishes comprehensive educational resources to nonprofit organizations to help them strengthen their practices. Accreditation and recognition is available to organizations that want to demonstrate their commitment to best practices.
The Standards for Excellence originated as a special initiative of Maryland Nonprofits in 1998 and has since expanded into a national program.
Maryland Nonprofits is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit associations and serves as the collective voice for over 37,000 nonprofit organizations in Maryland. Maryland Nonprofits’ mission is to strengthen organizations for greater quality of life and equity. Maryland Nonprofits helps develop and support a nonprofit’s ability to engage communities by
With 1,579 members across the state, Maryland Nonprofits promotes the Standards for Excellence Institute, a nationally-replicated accreditation program that enhances governance, management and the public’s trust in the nonprofit sector.
*Number updated 2024
Our staff and board are here to serve the Standards for Excellence community.
The Standards for Excellence Institute gratefully acknowledges corporate and philanthropic supporters of the Standards for Excellence initiative. Since the program’s inception, we have received support from the following institutions:
We are also grateful to local supporters of the Standards for Excellence program who invest in Standards for Excellence initiatives and programs offered by Standards for Excellence replication partners around the country. For more information on local funders, please visit the websites of licensed Standards for Excellence replication partners.
An April 2014 study of 102 nonprofit organizations that have been accredited through the Standards for Excellence program compared with peer organizations of similar size and industry examined the impact of acquiring the accreditation. Significant findings include:
Overall, the results in this paper provide supporting evidence of the positive impacts of the comprehensive accreditation program offered by the Standards for Excellence Institute and its licensed partners.