Ethics and Local Nonprofits

The teams in the Big Ethical Question Slam were, quite simply, terrific. Critical. Thoughtful. Funny. Eloquent. Temperate in their competitive zeal. Knowledgeable. Clever. Patient with the fact that this was our first time. And they will be first in our hearts forever for helping us get the Slam started and for making it worthwhile.

Social entrepreneurs. Microfinanciers. Practical Idealists. These are just of the few of the titles given to the new nonprofiteers and venture social capitalists starting up and charging up the world to make it a better place over the last two decades or so. 

By BARCODE 2x

When everyone is grasping at straws, there are bound to be lapses in fairness. In the world of non-profit Arts organizations, the competition over fundraising can lead to some dicey ethical scenarios.

Bart and Jeanine discuss ethics in social work and privacy at the Wellness Community, a free program for cancer patients and their families. With Executive Director Barb Hiltz and Program Director Bonnie Dockham.

Charitable gift-giving is complicated. And charities are facing the toughest year in our memory. What should charitable giving be about?

Our interview with Laurie Atwood (Kidz in Need Scholarship Fund), Jane Talcott (Campaigns Director,The Salvation Army), Katie Richards-Schuster (Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Youth Council Adviser) and Martha Bloom (A2ethics Board of Directors and Vice President, Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation). Listen in.

A few months back, a2ethics.org did a podcast on how nonprofits could and should share their skills and resources to be more efficient and effective in their work(www.a2ethics.org/node/411). The groups willing to come under scrutiny for their sharing skills were The Wellness Community (www.thewellnesscommunity.org/semich) and Arbor Hospice (www.arborhospice.org).

A few weeks ago, Michael Pollan, author of several works on the food industry and its social and moral impact on our lives, penned a letter to the president-elect, urging the new commander in chief to move to the top of his executive and legislative agenda the issue of food security. The article was entitled: Farmer in Chief. (www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?scp=1&sq=mi)

The nonprofit sector is a vital segment of the economy in Washtenaw County and southeastern Michigan. Over the past few decades, the nonprofit sector has become even more important. The sector has also changed in some significant ways. One of the major changes is in the way nonprofits do business. Add this to the simple fact that many nonprofits have become more like for profit businesses. In some ways this is all to the good. Nonprofits have become more professional and more accountable as a result.

It is a common enough complaint. You generally hear it just before the holidays around the Ann Arbor area. When people are getting annual giving appeals by mail, online or lately, by text message. The complaint? "There are too many nonprofits around here. And don't some of them overlap and aren't they offering similar programs?" Why don't they collaborate and work better together?