Governance Q&A: Should family members serve on the same board?

My organization just elected a married couple to its board. Is this ethical? In most circumstances it is ethical, but often unwise. I usually advise against it but I sit on a board myself that has not one but three...

Governance Q&A: Board service while job searching

I was invited to sit on the board of directors for a charitable organization. I am looking for work in the charity sector, including perhaps this very organization. Is it a conflict of interest for me to accept this invitation?...

Governance Q&A: Representatives who vote against their chapter

In my organization, each chapter appoints a representative to the provincial board. But the one from my chapter has been voting against what the chapter wants. She says she votes for what's best for the province instead. How do we...

Charity watchdogs: An intelligent development?

For the vast majority of Canada's 85,000+ charities, the work they do is often unheralded, workmanlike and of interest only to the stakeholders impacted by their cause. The organization keeps its head down, does the best it can on whatever...

Governance Q&A: Board and funder are too close for comfort

I sit on the board of an organization that is greatly intertwined with a major funder. The board members of the major funder are also the only members of my organization. Their part-time executive director also serves as our part-time...

Governance Q&A: Misrepresentation on social media

I want to have lots of people hear good things about my cause, and become supporters, and I have a brother in a similar situation with a different cause. I want to ask all our friends to "like" each other’s...

Governance Q&A: Leaving a board of directors under difficult conditions

I'm a CA, and I was recruited as treasurer to help a very small charity overhaul its accounting systems and start providing good financial information to the board. Now I want to quit because the chair is making major financial...

Third-party fundraising: Boon or bust?

On Sept. 22 of this year, the CBC produced an investigative report examining the nature of fundraising in the Canadian charitable sector and looking specifically at where donor dollars go. The story was also filed on their website here. On...

Governance Q&A: The importance of an independent auditor

My board chair wants to change audit firms to one where a friend of hers is a partner. If their quote is reasonable, is that ethically OK? I am assuming you are referring to the financial audit, since you likely...

Governance Q&A: When the ED is stealing

I have direct evidence that my executive director is misappropriating funds from the charity where I work. What can I do about her behaviour without risking my job? This is a difficult situation. I think you mean the misappropriation is...