Past Articles
Ethics

How Could This Happen to our Nonprofit? – Fraud Protection

By lewgrafman, on August 11th, 2011

If you Google the phrase “nonprofit fraud prevention”, you will get thousands of articles and presentations, primarily from the accounting world, discussing the far too often occurrence of fraud or embezzlement in nonprofits of all sizes.  These articles are full of excellent suggestions on how to prevent fraud, embezzlement, or theft by valued employees, yet there [...]

August 11th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: Ethics, Fraud at nonprofits, Fundraising | One comment
Capital Campaigns

How NOT to Fundraise: Lessons from the NPR Fiasco

By lewgrafman, on March 16th, 2011

Last month in this space Jeff Metz posted a wonderful blog titled Cultivating a Donor: Like Cultivating a Garden.  http://www.nonprofitwatercooler.com/2011/02/cultivating-a-donor-like-cultivating-a-garden/  
Too bad that NPR fundraising vice president Ron Schiller did not bother to visit the Nonprofit Water Cooler before he went to lunch with what he thought were representatives of the Muslim Education Action Center.  [...]

March 16th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: Capital Campaigns, Donors, Fundraising, Leadership, Marketing, NPR, National Public Radio, Philanthropy, Strategy | One comment
Ethics

Holiday Cheer, Business Ethics and Employee Receipt of Gifts

By lewgrafman, on November 15th, 2010

Once again the holiday season, the time for giving and receiving gifts, is upon us.  Does your nonprofit have a clear policy limiting or prohibiting employees from accepting holiday gifts from vendors? 
For a nonprofit employee a holiday gift from one of the nonprofit’s vendors can be viewed as both appealing and harmless.  Surely acceptance of [...]

November 15th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , | Category: Ethics, Leadership, Philanthropy | 2 comments