Association of Fundraising Professionals

Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice

(June 26, 2006) In the 2004 AFP Member Benefits Survey, AFP members overwhelming agreed that the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice was the highest-rated member benefit.

First adopted in 1964, the AFP Code, as it is commonly referred to, provides members with a set of guidelines involving professional fundraising practices. In addition, AFP and the Ethics Committee work together to enforce the AFP Code, ensuring members are held to the same standards set forth in its guidelines.

When asked why they value the AFP Code so much, many members give the same reason: When placed in a questionable ethical situation by an organization, foundation or even a donor, members only have to refer to the AFP Code to get direction and can use it to educate others on ethical practices.

In times of increased accountability, AFP membership and adherence to the AFP Code reinforces each individual's commitment to ethical fundraising and bolsters confidence in donor relationships.

"Our Code is the benchmark in the charitable sector," says Walter Sczudlo, LLM, AFP executive vice president, programs and public policy, and general counsel. "It's routine for other organizations in the sector to adopt it as their own policy." The AFP Code, which includes detailed enforcement procedures, clearly expresses AFP's vision of philanthropy promoted through responsible fundraising.

Members sign their adherence to the AFP Code every year when they renew their AFP membership. By signing the AFP Code, members make a pledge to avoid unethical fundraising or face reprimands and penalties.

Enforcement and Reprimands

The president's office and AFP's general counsel handle enforcement and questions pertaining to the AFP Code. There are three principal means of handling ethics dilemmas:

Consultations: "before problematic situations harden." People are inventive, and new circumstances constantly arise, so no ethics code can answer every possible question. Callers with ethics questions are routed directly to AFP's CEO or general counsel. Although the opinions offered become formal, recorded rulings, no proceeding ever arises from a telephone consultation —unless the caller initiates it.
Formal ethics queries: getting a ruling on record. The goal of queries is to provide assistance or effect improvement in fundraising practices without resorting to a formal complaint.
Ethics complaints: when behavior is clearly wrong. Complaints must be filed on the AFP complaint form and mailed to the CEO, who reviews them. If warranted, the complaint goes to the Ethics Committee chair, who checks the facts to determine whether there is sufficient information to support the charge (and to ensure that the committee is not being used as an arbitration panel in a contract dispute). The complainant is asked for additional information, if needed, but if the chair is satisfied that the complaint has merit, the matter is moved to the committee.

In the event AFP finds a member guilty of unethical behavior, penalties may result in a reprimand, a letter of censure, suspension or expulsion and withdrawal of AFP credentials.

The No. 1 Issue

The most common issue? Percentage-based compensation. There is no second-place issue, everything else, ranging from donor confidentiality to donor intent and fundraiser accounting methods—in short, every other matter the AFP Code covers—comes up for investigation with about equal frequency.

The complete Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice, a list of enforcement procedures and more information all are available on the AFP website.

Ethical Principals

Adopted 1964; amended Sept. 2007

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) exists to foster the development and growth of fundraising professionals and the profession, to promote high ethical behavior in the fundraising profession and to preserve and enhance philanthropy and volunteerism.

Members of AFP are motivated by an inner drive to improve the quality of life through the causes they serve. They serve the ideal of philanthropy, are committed to the preservation and enhancement of volunteerism; and hold stewardship of these concepts as the overriding direction of their professional life. They recognize their responsibility to ensure that needed resources are vigorously and ethically sought and that the intent of the donor is honestly fulfilled.

To these ends, AFP members, both individual and business, embrace certain values that they strive to uphold in performing their responsibilities for generating philanthropic support. AFP business members strive to promote and protect the work and mission of their client organizations.

AFP members both individual and business aspire to:

practice their profession with integrity, honesty, truthfulness and adherence to the absolute obligation to safeguard the public trust
act according to the highest goals and visions of their organizations, professions, clients and consciences
put philanthropic mission above personal gain;
inspire others through their own sense of dedication and high purpose
improve their professional knowledge and skills, so that their performance will better serve others
demonstrate concern for the interests and well-being of individuals affected by their actions
value the privacy, freedom of choice and interests of all those affected by their actions
foster cultural diversity and pluralistic values and treat all people with dignity and respect
affirm, through personal giving, a commitment to philanthropy and its role in society
adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of all applicable laws and regulations
advocate within their organizations adherence to all applicable laws and regulations
avoid even the appearance of any criminal offense or professional misconduct
bring credit to the fundraising profession by their public demeanor
encourage colleagues to embrace and practice these ethical principles and standards
be aware of the codes of ethics promulgated by other professional organizations that serve philanthropy

Ethical Standards

Furthermore, while striving to act according to the above values, AFP members, both individual and business, agree to abide (and to ensure, to the best of their ability, that all members of their staff abide) by the AFP standards. Violation of the standards may subject the member to disciplinary sanctions, including expulsion, as provided in the AFP Ethics Enforcement Procedures.

Member Obligations

Members shall not engage in activities that harm the members' organizations, clients or profession.
Members shall not engage in activities that conflict with their fiduciary, ethical and legal obligations to their organizations, clients or profession.
Members shall effectively disclose all potential and actual conflicts of interest; such disclosure does not preclude or imply ethical impropriety.
Members shall not exploit any relationship with a donor, prospect, volunteer, client or employee for the benefit of the members or the members' organizations.
Members shall comply with all applicable local, state, provincial and federal civil and criminal laws.
Members recognize their individual boundaries of competence and are forthcoming and truthful about their professional experience and qualifications and will represent their achievements accurately and without exaggeration.
Members shall present and supply products and/or services honestly and without misrepresentation and will clearly identify the details of those products, such as availability of the products and/or services and other factors that may affect the suitability of the products and/or services for donors, clients or non profit organizations.
Members shall establish the nature and purpose of any contractual relationship at the outset and will be responsive and available to organizations and their employing organizations before, during and after any sale of materials and/or services. Members will comply with all fair and reasonable obligations created by the contract.
Members shall refrain from knowingly infringing the intellectual property rights of other parties at all times. Members shall address and rectify any inadvertent infringement that may occur.
Members shall protect the confidentiality of all privileged information relating to the provider/client relationships.
Members shall refrain from any activity designed to disparage competitors untruthfully.

Solicitation and Use of Philanthropic Funds

Members shall take care to ensure that all solicitation and communication materials are accurate and correctly reflect their organizations' mission and use of solicited funds.
Members shall take care to ensure that donors receive informed, accurate and ethical advice about the value and tax implications of contributions.
Members shall take care to ensure that contributions are used in accordance with donors' intentions.
Members shall take care to ensure proper stewardship of all revenue sources, including timely reports on the use and management of such funds.
Members shall obtain explicit consent by donors before altering the conditions of financial transactions.

Presentation of Information

Members shall not disclose privileged or confidential information to unauthorized parties.
Members shall adhere to the principle that all donor and prospect information created by, or on behalf of, an organization or a client is the property of that organization or client and shall not be transferred or utilized except on behalf of that organization or client.
Members shall give donors and clients the opportunity to have their names removed from lists that are sold to, rented to or exchanged with other organizations.
Members shall, when stating fundraising results, use accurate and consistent accounting methods that conform to the appropriate guidelines adopted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)* for the type of organization involved. (* In countries outside of the United States, comparable authority should be utilized.)

Compensation and Contracts

Members shall not accept compensation or enter into a contract that is based on a percentage of contributions; nor shall members accept finder's fees or contingent fees. Business members must refrain from receiving compensation from third parties derived from products or services for a client without disclosing that third-party compensation to the client (for example, volume rebates from vendors to business members).
Members may accept performance-based compensation, such as bonuses, provided such bonuses are in accord with prevailing practices within the members' own organizations and are not based on a percentage of contributions.
Members shall neither offer nor accept payments or special considerations for the purpose of influencing the selection of products or services.
Members shall not pay finder's fees, commissions or percentage compensation based on contributions, and shall take care to discourage their organizations from making such payments.
Any member receiving funds on behalf of a donor or client must meet the legal requirements for the disbursement of those funds. Any interest or income earned on the funds should be fully disclosed.