Citizen protests come in a variety of forms. Some take to the street or show up at Parliament Hill, placards in hand. Others strike, petition, blockade and sit-in (or bed-in, a la Lennon; but I digress).Then there are blackouts –...
Given how much time board members give to their charity, is it ethical to also expect them to donate? Yes, it is. Volunteers are usually the best source of funds for a charity, and it would be irresponsible not to...
Is it ethical for a member to demand a list of fellow members of a charity, or is this a breach of confidentiality? I'll have to break this question into component parts. a) Is this a breach of confidentiality? This...
"That decision is up to the board." "I'll have to take this back to the board for a vote." "We'll see what the board recommends." Sound familiar? A board of directors is clearly a powerful and necessary mechanism for any...
Our founder stepped down from being chair after accomplishing our initial goal over our first three years. However, she remains on the board as past chair, and everyone defers to her opinions, opinions that are not helping us move forward....
If a member thoroughly disrupts an annual general meeting (AGM), can they be removed or prevented from attending in future? Usually, AGMs are open to everyone although only members, or certain classes of members, have a vote. And members are...
Back in October 2011, CharityVillage® covered the early pilot launch of Imagine Canada's new Standards Programs, designed to be a guide to good governance and operating policies and practices and intended to complement standards that many organizations already have in...
Since we value honesty, but donors and funders don't want to support administration costs, how can we ethically define and report on administration costs? It is extremely unfortunate that some nonprofits perpetuate the misleading idea that it is possible to...
Our organization does not have a credit card, therefore staff members are refunded on program expenses. Fair enough. My dilemma arises when staff use their own credit card and collect points on those expenses. Is it ethical to collect points...
In an economic climate that's already impacting the flow of donor dollars to the nonprofit sector, Canadian charities, foundations and nonprofits are crying foul over the recent launch and national media coverage of a charity appraisal search engine by a...
