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 Higher Ed lens
Few sectors live the naming-request dilemma as often as higher education: a major gift to name a building or endow a chair is a real decision your board will eventually face, and settling who decides and on what grounds before a seven-figure donor is in the room is standard advancement practice, not a hypothetical. The same discipline applies when a restricted gift outlives the program it was written for, a chair endowed for a department that later merges or closes, which is exactly why a well-drafted gift agreement needs variance language before, not after, the purpose becomes impossible to honor.
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.