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It would probably seem less threatening if it had another name. "Ethics audit" conjures up visions of a Grand Inquisitor grilling various subjects and rifling desk drawers for incriminating information. It's a shame if the name does deter nonprofits, because an ethics audit is one of the most valuable assessment tools an organization can employ. Despite a call from Independent Sector for every nonprofit to undertake a regular ethics audit, very few have done so.(1) That state of affairs may be changing, however. The Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations (CANPO) has recently published a book entitled Conducting An Ethics Audit: A Checklist for Nonprofits.(2) Several nonprofits in Colorado have undergone ethics audits. Others, including foundations who may fund ethics audits through technical assistance grants, are interested in the process.
Why Conduct an Ethics Audit?
A good ethics audit covers more ground than you might expect. While an audit certainly seeks to reveal any discrimination, unfairness, or discontent within an organization, it can go far beyond that. If we consider ethics in the widest possible sense, as a concern about quality of life and relationships between people, then it is impossible not to cast the ethics audit net widely.
An ethics audit approaches a total checklist of organizational health. It looks at an organization's faithfulness to its mission and the way it treats its staff, volunteers, donors, and clients. It evaluates openness of communication and leadership of the board and senior staff. It examines fundraising, marketing, and financial management practices and the organization's relationship to the community. It looks at the organization's evaluation process for staff and volunteers, its salary structure, and its grievance procedures. It assesses the organization's ability to cultivate a climate in which trust, respect, professionalism, a sense of community, and other important values are prominent. It even looks at the organization's ecological practices. If the organization has a values statement or code of ethics, an ethics audit reports how well the organization honors it. Many of these areas may be examined in other organizational assessments, but an ethics audit considers them all together and from a unique perspective.
Clearly, good ethics is good business.(3) If the organization lacks a climate of trust and respect, if it pays insufficient attention to its volunteers'...