Ethics in Practice: The AFP Code, the Donor Bill of Rights, and Gift Acceptance
What a donor is owed, what the profession has promised, and what to do when a gift should not be taken as offered. The reviewer's first look, and the module that makes the discipline's name true.
Through the Faith-Based lens
Gift acceptance in a parish gets concrete fast: a donor wants to fund a specific statue, chapel renovation, or ministry the pastor never asked for, and the question of whether the purpose fits the mission as it stands has to be answered by someone with authority over both budget and liturgy, not just a business manager. Because congregational giving carries spiritual weight, a parishioner's confidence about a family struggle or a diagnosis, shared the way this module's case drills describe, deserves the same restraint in a fundraising file that it would get from clergy directly.
Continuing education
1.25 points
Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism · Leadership and Management
Learning objectives
- State the ethical basis for asking in the profession's own terms and in The Fundraising Co.'s: a gift freely given is good for the giver, and the fundraiser's first duty is to keep it free.
- Apply the Donor Bill of Rights and the AFP Code of Ethical Standards to everyday decisions about solicitation, acknowledgment, donor data, and compensation.
- Decide, using a written policy, whether to accept a gift as offered, accept it with conditions, or decline it, and explain the decision to the donor with gratitude intact.
- Adopt a donor privacy standard covering what is recorded, who sees it, what is shared, and how a donor can see or correct it.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 20 min
Video lesson
What the donor is owed
I Pause · Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism
- 20 min
Field guide· PDF
Gift acceptance: when to say yes, when to say not like this, when to say no
III Discern · Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism
- 22 min
Template· DOCX
Gift acceptance policy and donor privacy standard (starter)
V Receive · Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism
- 16 min
Worksheet· XLSX
Ethics case drills: eight situations and the Code
III Discern · Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
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Building a Major Gifts Portfolio
Move from reactive asks to a managed portfolio: qualification, moves management, and a caseload you can defend.
Donor Communications & Stewardship
The Case for Support That Writes Itself
One master case document that powers every appeal, proposal, and conversation, built from your mission's real evidence.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
Annual Giving Systems: Calendar & Segmentation
Graduate from one-off appeals to a segmented, scheduled program with lapsed-donor recovery built in.