In the midst of the current coronavirus pandemic, many nonprofits are faced with tough choices related to raising the necessary resources to meet their missions and support the great needs of the communities they serve. The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector provides guidance for how organizations should act when planning resource development and states, “An organization’s resource development program should be maintained on a foundation of[…]

"Many of these nonprofits operate on a tight budget and don’t have a significant cushion in reserve. Many rely on fundraising events to provide funds for their services and those events have been canceled. Many nonprofits have employees who are at the bottom of the pay scale and cannot afford to be laid off. The fundraising capacity of these nonprofits is currently paralyzed. Ethical giving in a pandemic looks different than in normal times."Joan Harrington, the director of Social Sector Ethics[…]

This is part of a special series, brought to you by the Standards for Excellence Institute, to provide nonprofit leaders with a brief nonprofit governance and management tip weekly over the course of 2020. We hope these short tips will be helpful to you and the nonprofits you serve. If you have suggestions for future topics, please forward these to acmadsen@standardsforexcellence.org.I recently read an article “Nonprofits Decline Gifts With Too Many Strings or Misaligned Values, Survey Finds” […]

This is part of a special series, brought to you by the Standards for Excellence Institute, to provide nonprofit leaders with a brief nonprofit governance and management tip weekly over the course of 2020. We hope these short tips will be helpful to you and the nonprofits you serve. If you have suggestions for future topics, please forward these to acmadsen@standardsforexcellence.org.Earlier this week, I answered my home phone and a paid fundraiser working for a nonprofit that my family and I[…]

The Standards for Excellence Institute has been following a news story in Baton Rouge that raises important questions related to best practices in governance and management of nonprofit charitable resources, and provides a sharp example of the importance of embracing best practices, as articulated in the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector.[…]

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[…]

Garth Brooks sings about his less-than-reputable buddies in his popular country song, “Friends in Low Places.” It is hard to determine whose reputation appeared more sullied in Mr. Brooks’ recent headlining activities – himself or the nonprofit hospital which he sued for apparently not following his wishes.Recently, a jury in Oklahoma ordered the Integris Canadian Valley Hospital, to which Garth Brooks had made a $500,000 donation, to refund his contribution plus punitive damages because the[…]