The recent CANADALAND podcast, The White Saviors, has brought the spotlight back to WE Charity and the many unanswered questions that still remain about how it was run. With WE back in the news, it is a good time to see how you can strengthen your own charity's work to be better.

Finances and Accounting

A major area of news coverage on WE Charity has been their financial dealings. There is robust support for organizations in this area.

CPA Canada has a particularly robust set of resources on ethics as well as much professional education. This could be the backbone for you to advocate for your organization to adopt.

Human Resources

There have been many questions about the treatment of staff at WE Charity. There are some great current resources in this area with more on the horizon.

• The Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of Canada have a code of ethics. Since charities work with both employees and volunteers, adopting the CPHR Code of Ethics & Rules of Professional Conduct is valuable.
• In addition, Imagine Canada, in partnership with ONN, is bringing back the HR Council Toolkit. While no timeline has been announced, it will be an invaluable source of help.

Governance

There have been many questions about how the WE Charity Board was structured. This has included questions about decision making authority. A valuable first step would be to get your Board Chair, and Chair-elect, to commit to attending Director education. Over time this could be expanded to Director education for your whole Board.

• American-based, BoardSource offers great tools for leadership and has an extensive number of online, certificate classes available. 
• The Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors Not-for-Profit program is an in-person program that focuses on key accountabilities and responsibilities for NFP leaders through extensive use of team-based learning to ensure participants learn from both faculty and their peers. There is a scholarship fund available to underwrite the program cost.  

Fundraising

WE charity is alleged to have broken ethical standards by "plaque switching". Former employees claim that WE would put a plaque on a school "Naming" that school and then days or weeks later, rename the school in a new plaque ceremony.

As an individual, you can join one of the fundraising professional associations and subscribe to their Code of Ethics. Relevant individual codes include  

• The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) has an ethical code In addition to the code, AFP has an entire resource section on its website on the topic of ethics. [full disclosure, I have been a member of AFP since 1989 and they are Hilborn advertisers].
• The Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), provides particularly relevant ethics information for those working with patients or other people who participate in the health care system. AHP also has a resource section highlighting their work in the area of ethics.
• The Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) provides a useful framework for the area of gift planning. Since this is a specialist area with its own set of complex issues, their Code  of Ethics is very helpful.
• In addition, Apra Canada, the professional association for prospect researchers has a longstanding commitment to ethical practice. The Apra Canada Statement of Ethics has important insights in this area.

As an organization, your Board can endorse any or all of these ethical codes to demonstrate their commitment to responsible leadership.

Volunteers

There are claims that WE Charity did not treat volunteers properly.  This includes allegations involving incorrect business relationships with volunteers. We are lucky to have two great volunteer groups in Canada who provide information your organization can adopt to ensure you treat your volunteers properly.

• Volunteer Canada has a Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement, which is an excellent guide. It also includes an audit tool to help you stay on top of your adherence to this code. Volunteer Canada has great resources for how to effectively work with volunteers virtually due to COVID.
• The Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada have a set of Standards of Practice.   

Organization

In addition to staff training, Board training, and subscribing to the appropriate Ethical Codes or Standards, it is valuable to ensure your whole organization works within a solid framework.

• If your organization is a not non-profit, you might want to consider formally certifying as a B Corporation. 
• The Imagine Canada Standards Program has a formal accreditation program that helps strengthen organizations. [full disclosure, I volunteered with Imagine Canada's Standards  for over 10 years.] 

 Ann Rosenfield is the Editor of Hilborn Charity eNews and a working fundraiser. She serves on the Board of Rainbow Railroad as Governance Chair.

Cover photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash