Giving Compass' Take:

• In this piece from Independent Sector, author Marie LeBlanc highlights insight from about 50 nonprofit leaders about how ethical behaviors and practices might address some of the 21st century's biggest social issues.

• LeBlanc highlights data and technology, environmental impact, and equity as three of the biggest 21st century problems. How might the ethical principles discussed affect these topics?

• To learn about how we can bring back moral education, click here.

Recently, Independent Sector Board Member and President of the Bush Foundation Jennifer Ford Reedy wrote about how doing good is more than about your output, but rather your impact in community. This got me thinking about our own work considering charitable sector ethics and three 21st Century challenges:  data and technology, environmental impact, and equity.

When thinking of our own ethical practices as organizations, it is good for us to think about our own impact beyond just strong financial oversight and good governance , which are important areas that are part of our Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice. Using that as a hypothesis, we talked to about 50 leaders at the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) National Leaders Conference and at Upswell in 2018 to consider broad 21st century social challenges that should be addressed by our own ethical behaviors and practices.

Across all conversations, a few themes rang clear. The tone at the top is critical – CEOs and boards must lead the way. While long-term strategic responses will ultimately have the biggest impact, there are also opportunities for short-term wins through existing policies and procedures. For example, several of IS’ 33 principles already offer guidance related to the challenges listed above and could be easily tweaked to more clearly emphasize data and technology, environmental impact, and equity.

  • Principle 6 (asset protection) includes data in asset protection planning.
  • Principle 7 (public information) emphasizes the importance of transparency.
  • Principle 11 (board diversity) emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives on boards of directors.
  • Principle 30 (gift acceptance policy) encourages organizations to think about the types of donations they will accept.

Read the full article about ethical behaviors by Marie LeBlanc at Independent Sector