Ethics are moral principles that govern an individual’s or group’s behavior or activities. Within the grant profession, the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) has defined a clear code of ethics for members to abide by and establish boundaries within practice that uphold the integrity of the industry. Members of GPA or a professional association with defined codes of ethics need to understand and agree (or accept) the ethical boundaries the organization upholds. Members found to be in violation of the association’s ethics can be sanctioned with temporary or permanent suspension of membership or revocation of their credentials. While some ethical responses are intuitive, others are unclear. Below are three not-so-obvious ethical quandaries commonly encountered by organizations.

    Grant Ethics: Grant Ethics for Consultants Session 8 of the Ethics Series While all nonprofit professionals have many ethical issues to consider as they conduct pre-award and post-award grant activities, grant consultants have additional areas of which to be mindful because they run their own businesses instead...

    Grant Ethics: The Ethics of Program Implementation and Reporting After a Grant is Funded Session 7 of the Ethics Series While ethics must be considered in all stages of the grant lifecycle, the part that most people worry about is program implementation and reporting. Here grant professionals...

    Grant Ethics: Creating Ethical Grant Budgets and Sustainability Plans Session 6 of the Ethics Series For many organizations, a federal grant will be a significant expansion to an existing program or the initial funding for a program that does not yet exist. This can make the creation...

    Ethics: The Ethics of Program Design: Plans and Partners Session 5 of the Ethics Series Creating a high-quality grant proposal can be challenging when organizations may also be designing the program at the same time. Alignment to the mission of the organization and its strategic plan versus...

    Grant Ethics: Ethics for Grant Proposal Need Statements Session 4 of the Grant Ethics Series The way grant professionals describe the needs of their community is an important part of persuading reviewers and grant funders to award a grant. Which need is greatest and most aligned to...

    Grant Ethics: Organizational Capacity and Readiness Grant Ethics Session 3 of the Grant Ethics Series Issues of ethics abound when grant professionals examine their organization's readiness to apply for grants. Is the grant aligned to the organization's strategic plan or is the organization chasing money and causing...

    Grant Ethics: Grant Ethics for Prospect Research and Funder Relationships Session 2 of the Grant Ethics Series Have you ever been uncomfortable applying to a foundation which didn’t seem to really match your organization’s profile? Many nonprofit professionals are pressured into writing to foundations who don’t match...

    Grant Ethics Session 10 of the Grant Funding Basics Series All grant professionals experience ethical moments throughout their careers. It is our professional duty to guide the organizations we work for on ethical conduct. This conduct extends beyond whether funding can be spent differently than was written in...