Undue Pressure

You are not alone. A few years ago, a fundraiser wrote to ask if driving a donor to the store to get her groceries was such a bad idea. His boss had reprimanded him for doing that. My response at the time was to consider the organization’s perspective. The fundraiser was being paid to obtain gifts, not to act as chauffer or, to get to the larger issue in your situation, not to put himself into a position where he might be accused of applying undue pressure. All a disgruntled child needs is a story to tell the court of how a fundraiser ingratiated himself with a donor to the point of leaving less money to her loved ones. Even if the legal question were resolved in the charity’s favor, the ethical — to say nothing of the public relations — question would hardly be resolved.

That said, we can’t let fear steer us away from our best intentions. One of the tenets of ethical decision-making is to consider, to the best of our ability, all of the relevant facts of a situation. You say that you did your donor a favor, yes, but the favor was to drive her to her attorney. That fact makes a difference. It’s different from, say, driving her to your organization’s attorney for legal consultation, or, even, to the grocery store. I think anyone could only conclude that whatever influence your favor may have generated would be far, far outweighed by the knowledge that your donor would be getting advice from a professional whose time and expertise were paid for by your donor. That is, no matter who got her to the attorney’s door, the attorney would be representing her best interests. Even if you were present during that discussion, I would have to think that the attorney would not be influenced away from what’s best for his client. In fact, although this usually takes place after a gift strategy is decided upon, the fundraiser and the attorney, to the benefit of the donor, often discuss the particulars of the arrangement. This is most important when deciding the components of the gift agreement, which is separate from deciding what is contained in the language of the charitable trust or other gift vehicle.

In this particular case of helping a donor, I’d suggest you sleep well at night.

But while your question seems easier than some to answer, it should remind us all that relationships with donors can be tricky waters to navigate. As I have said before, ethics is far less about deciding between right and wrong and far more about deciding between right and right. While these two truths, or rights — it is proper for office executives to analyze the activities of their fundraisers to reach the organization’s highest efficiency and it is proper for fundraisers to care about and help their donors in appropriate situations — are compatible, we must constantly find the proper balance. It’s a matter of degree and, for the most part, ethical common sense.

If you have a question, please feel free to contact Doug White at dwhitepg@gmail.com. While all issues discussed are real, identities are kept confidential.