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Article Archives >> Ready Reference >> February 1-29, 2008

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Compliance Assessments Protect Charities – Part I
Proactive review can reduce the risks
of waking up to adverse publicity and loss of trust

Excerpt
Hardly a day goes by without numerous newspaper articles and other media stories about real or perceived abuses in the nonprofit sector.  In addition to this steady stream of media coverage, both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have recently conducted high visibility hearings and inquiries into actual and perceived sector abuses.
 
What’s especially tragic about the vast majority of this negative media and Congressional scrutiny is that much of it could have been avoided had the organizations’ boards, officers, employees, and/or volunteers simply fulfilled their fiduciary responsibilities.  In fact, virtually every case prosecuted by state and federal regulators can ultimately be traced back to the organization’s board, officers, employees, and/or volunteers failing to fulfill their basic fiduciary responsibilities.  Had the individuals in question been more vigilant, the wrongdoing could have been detected, addressed, and, in most instances, the subsequent negative media and Congressional scrutiny avoided, or at least minimized.

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Article Archives >> Ready Reference >> February 1-29, 2008