You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.
Home » About » AFP Standards of Professional Practice

AFP Standards of Professional Practice

While striving to act according to the AFP Code of Ethics, AFP members agree to abide by the following standards:

Professional Obligations

  1. Members shall not engage in activities that harm the members, organization, clients, or profession.
  2. Members shall not engage in activities that conflict with their fiduciary, ethical and legal obligations to their organizations and their clients.
  3. Members shall effectively disclose all potential and actual conflicts of interest; such disclosure does not preclude or imply ethical impropriety.
  4. Members have not exploit and relationship with a donor, prospect, volunteer or employee to the benefit of the member or the member’s organization
  5. Members shall comply with all applicable local, state, provincial, federal, civil and criminal laws.
  6. Members recognize their individual boundaries of competence and for forthcoming and truthful about their professional experience and qualifications.

Solicitation and Use of Philanthropic Funds

  1. Members shall take care to ensure that all solicitation materials are accurate and correctly reflect the organization’s mission and use of solicited funds.
  2. Members shall take care to ensure that donors received informed, accurate and ethical advice about the value and tax implications of potential contributions.
  3. Members shall take care to ensure that contributions are used in accordance with donors’ intentions.
  4. Members shall take care to ensure proper stewardship of philanthropic contributions, including timely reports on the use and management of such funds.
  5. Members shall obtain explicit consent by the donor before altering the conditions of contributions.

Presentation of Information

  1. Members shall not disclose privileged or confidential information to unauthorized parties.
  2. Members shall adhere to the principle that all donor and prospect information created by, or on behalf of, an organization is the property of that organization and shall not be transferred or utilized except on behalf of that organization.
  3. Members shall give donors the opportunity to have their names removed from lists that are sold to, rented to, or exchanged with other organizations.
  4. Members shall, when stating fundraising results, use accurate and consistent accounting methods that conform to the appropriate guidelines adopted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)* for the type of organization involved. (*In countries outside of the United States, comparable authority should be utilized.

Compensation

  1. Members shall not accept compensation that is based on a percentage of contributions; nor shall they accept finder’s fees.
  2. Members may accept performance-based compensation, such as bonuses, provided such bonuses are in accord with prevailing practices within the members’ own organizations, and are not based on a percentage of contributions.
  3. Members shall not pay finder’s fees, or commissions or percentage compensation based on contributions, and shall take care to discourage their organizations from making such payments.