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Home > Ethics

Introduction to Ethics

Ethical standards and principles are the foundation for maintaining public trust, for every AFP member. AFP provides a self-governed process for addressing ethical concerns.

Emerging Issues

Ethical standards and principles are the foundation for maintaining public trust, and it is the goal of AFP to stay current and focused on emerging ethical issues. The follow are just some of the emerging issues articles and stories available for review.

New Accounting Standards on Reporting Fundraising Expenses
(July 30, 2007) The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) released new guidelines for the reporting of fundraising expenses by charitable organizations.

Behavior of Management, Supervisors Critical in Reinforcing Ethics
(July 9, 2007)  Employed adults ranked the behavior of management and direct supervisors as the top two factors contributing to the promotion of an ethical workplace, according to a new survey by audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory firm Deloitte & Touche USA.

AOL and Yahoo to Begin Charging to Send Emails
(Feb. 13, 2006) Both America Online (AOL) and Yahoo have announced they will begin charging commercial emailers a fraction of a cent for every message sent to one of their users.

Featured Articles and Papers

AFP provides a number of position papers and articles to help guide members through ethical concerns and issues. The follow are just some of the available articles and papers available for review.

Guidance: Internet transaction fees
Numerous websites have been established to facilitate online donations to unrelated organizations. The majority of such websites are maintained by entities that are not themselves tax-exempt.

Position Paper: percentage-based compensation
A 2001 position paper by the AFP Ethics Committee on why AFP prohibits members from accepting percentage-based compensation.

Position paper: parity in the fundraising profession
Parity laws, policies, and procedures in fundraising are covered in this 1994 position paper by the NSFRE (now AFP) Parity Task Force.

Donor Bill of Rights

To ensure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, AFP and other fundraising organizations declare that all donors have the following rights.

International Ethics

"The ideas of philanthropy, trust and ethics are shared by people around the world, and everyone involved in the philanthropic process—no matter where they are—should know that that fundraisers are bound by a common set of standards and best practices."

Paulette V. Maehara, CFRE, CAE
President and CEO of AFP