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?

I dealt with this issue from another perspective way back in 2004. That person was already on a charity board and wondering about accepting work with another charity. Some of the points made will be applicable to this situation and I suggest you read the older article too.

With respect to this situation, you are certainly not in a conflict of interest situation yet, real or perceived. However, to stay ethical, you must disclose your job hunt to the committee or director who invited you to join the board. You need to make sure the issue is known to all the directors, since they will likely be recommending you to the members, or directly voting you in if the membership is limited or this is an in-year appointment. They need to know if your time on the board is likely to be shorter than usual; they may choose another who is more likely to serve multiple terms. They might ask you to serve on a committee or task force instead, where turnover is less of an issue.

If you take the director position and then see an internal paid one that you want, put yourself in the position of the other directors and staff if you are NOT selected. It becomes very awkward to have you around in a leadership role, especially if the staffing decision was made by the executive director or another employee that deals directly with board members. To avoid that, I believe it is critical for people to resign from a board before applying so the staffing decision is not affected by the board role. I do not believe that waiting until the selection decision is made is at all ethical, since people who do that rarely resign if they are not hired, and the difficult situation described above then happens.

For international readers who might be thinking that this person could stay on the board as a staff representative, Canadian charities do not normally have any staff on the board, and having them would be illegal in at least some provinces. Further, the person might not fit the criteria, or be the choice for a staff representative even where that is practiced.

In terms of accepting work with another charity, you have to think about how similar the supporter group is and whether your role will bring you into conflict situations. EVERY board member is responsible for ensuring that their organization obtains the resources it needs to achieve its vision and mission, regardless of who does the actual fundraising work. Directors therefore need to be ambassadors and champions when they meet potential funders, donors, volunteers, partners and others in the community. Your community might be defined by geography, special interest or in many other ways.

You need to consider the type of work you might be doing. If you hope to work as a fundraiser, for example, raising funds or finding grants from the same community for similar work (e.g., international development), I suggest that you turn down the board invitation. How would you ever decide, on meeting a potential supporter, which hat you were wearing? Remember that “meeting” now includes all forms of social media as well as in person.

Even fundraisers can, however, volunteer with one organization and work for another if the type of supporters are sufficiently different and enough care is taken. Full familiarity with the Association of Fundraising Professionals code of ethics, or equivalent, and with the Imagine Canada code for fundraising organizations, would be essential. Taking on such a role would require careful decision-making, maybe even on a daily basis, and you might find the constant balancing act quite stressful.

Similar issues will apply if you are looking for an executive director role, with added ones such as helping with board recruitment. Some executive directors and fundraisers deal with this by avoiding all forms of friendraising and fundraising for the organization where they volunteer, but to me they are then avoiding key responsibilities of a board member.

On the other hand, many types of work within a charitable organization are not connected with fundraising closely enough to be a problem. If, for example, you provide a direct service, and a client asks how to make a donation to your organization, the client has chosen the organization, not you. You can answer the question without concern.

Let me add a word of caution. If you find yourself handling both roles, remember not to put a staff perspective too strongly into your board deliberations. Boards have enough trouble staying out of micromanagement and meddling without having a director raising operational matters over and over.

Instead, learn from being in both roles. Use your dual experience to support thinking like this:

• How will this board decision be perceived within the organization? If poorly, perhaps it could be better explained, or explained in person by the executive director or chair rather than just in writing.
• How can the board obtain better support from the staff for their decisions? Often boards make decisions without information, analysis or recommendations because they failed to ask for it, or did not clarify the timing and format for the decision support document. You could help the board give clear direction to the staff.

I hope you will find a way to balance your interest in leadership volunteering with your need to make a living and your desire to do that within the sector.

Since 1992, Jane Garthson has dedicated her consulting and training business to creating better futures for our communities and organizations through values-based leadership. She is a respected international voice on governance, strategic thinking and ethics. Jane can be reached at jane@garthsonleadership.ca.

Because nonprofit organizations are formed to do good does not mean they are always good in their own practices. Send us your ethical questions dealing with volunteers, staff, clients, donors, funders, sponsors, and more. Please identify yourself and your organization so we know the questions come from within the sector. No identifying information will appear in this column.

To submit a dilemma for a future column, or to comment on a previous one, please contact editor@charityvillage.com. For paid professional advice about an urgent or complex situation, contact Jane directly.

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