Late one evening I received an e-mail from a former client, asking how to turn down a contribution they didn’t feel was aligned with their organization’s values. A few days later an interesting article appeared in Philanthropy Today, from the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Nonprofits risk their reputations when they accept gifts from questionable donors. It is one of the reasons for having a Gift Acceptance Policy and a Gift Acceptance Committee. These issues are seldom black or white. Basically, you want the ability to direct these questionable contributions to the Board, through a Committee and not have the responsibility (or blame) for accepting or not accepting a potentially controversial gift fall on the shoulders of your Executive Director of President. I’ve linked the article above, and also included a template for a Gift Acceptance Policy which has seen many revisions over the years.
