Our page on Setting Up a Charity explains that charities are organisations that are set up to provide help or raise money for people in need. Almost by definition, therefore, we might consider that charities are “good” organisations. However, being established to ‘do good’, and being able to ensure that your staff and volunteers actually behave in a way that people consider ‘ethical’, are two completely different issues.

It is possible that we hold charities to higher standards than other organisations—but it is also possible that this is entirely appropriate given their aims and purposes. This page explores some of the ethical issues around running a charity. It discusses a set of principles that has been set out and agreed for charities in the UK, and also explains why it is important for charities to operate in line with ethical standards.

When Charity Workers Aren’t ‘Good’

In February 2018, international charity Oxfam hit the world’s headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The Times newspaper had found that Oxfam staff supporting survivors of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti had paid local women for sex. Worse, these women were receiving services and support from the charity. Allegations emerged that staff on an Oxfam mission to Chad in 2006 had also used prostitutes. Celebrity partners withdrew support, the Charity Commission announced a statutory inquiry, and the president of Haiti condemned Oxfam in no uncertain terms.

The story ran and ran, even though Oxfam published a full page apology in The Guardian barely a week after the story broke. The charity lost an enormous amount of support, including financial, and was forced to cut large numbers of staff in the wake of the scandal. Its deputy chief executive resigned, taking full responsibility for allowing this to happen ‘on her watch’. The chief executive of another charity, Save the Children, described the scandal as “a wake-up call for the sector”.

Several years on, it is clear that this was true.

The sector—and, indeed, Oxfam—did not try to brush this scandal aside as “a few bad apples”. It considered it a systemic matter, and took action to address it. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)—the membership organisation for charities, voluntary organisations and community groups in the UK—published a set of ethical principles for voluntary organisations in the wake of the scandal.

These are designed to set out a framework for charities and voluntary organisations to operate within. The aim was to make it easier to recognise and resolve ethical issues, and also make charities a safer place. The idea was not to provide rules to cover every situation, but to provide a framework that would help trustees and others to make better, more ethical decisions (see box).

These principles are, of course, voluntary, as is membership of the NCVO. However, the principles are a reasonable starting point for any charity or voluntary organisation thinking about ethical issues.

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Four Ethical Principles

The four ethical principles set out by the NCVO are:

1. Beneficiaries first

This principle goes back to the requirement under English law that charities have to carry out their purpose “for the public benefit”.

It places the interests of those who receive services, care or support from a charity—its beneficiaries—at the heart of all decision-making and activity by both paid staff and volunteers.

This clearly comes straight from the centre of the Oxfam scandal, and the issue that the women concerned might have feared losing the support of the charity if they refused to have sex with the charity’s staff.

In practice, the council suggests that this means that charity workers must understand their charity’s purpose, and know who their beneficiaries are. They must also work in such a way as to provide the greatest benefit to their beneficiaries. It is also important that they listen to beneficiaries, and take their views and opinions into account in deciding how the charity should operate. Anyone drawing up policies and procedures should also keep the interests of beneficiaries in mind.

2. Integrity

The second principle is that anyone volunteering or working in a charity should uphold “the highest level of institutional integrity and personal conduct”.

In other words, yes, we do hold charities to higher standards than other organisations—and yes, that is appropriate.

The practical implications of this include having systems in place to ensure that decisions are defensible and robust, and to avoid conflicts of interest. The guidance touches on the importance of managing resources responsibly, and adopting sustainable working practices. It also suggests that when seeking partners, charities should choose organisations with high ethical standards, to avoid any reputational damage.

Finally, the principles suggest that charity workers need to understand that what they do in their private lives may affect the reputation of their employer and other charities—and that this is reasonable. This, too, is clearly informed by the defence put forward by those involved in the Oxfam scandal—and also by the responses from the world.

3. Openness

The third principle is openness: that charities should operate in a way that means that donors, supporters, recipients of services and the wider public can see how they work.

This includes how they spend their money, and how they deal with problems.

One of the problems that Oxfam encountered in 2018 was that it had already investigated the behaviour exposed by The Times. However, it had not published the report or its findings, or warned other organisations about the people involved. Indeed, several of those accused were still working in the aid sector, albeit for other organisations. This did not feel exactly open and transparent.

The principles therefore suggest that charities will need to have clear statements about how they deal with safeguarding, bullying and harassment, and their policies and procedures for complaints and whistleblowing. They should also have clear lines of accountability for their work.

4. Right to be safe

The right to be safe makes clear that everyone who comes into contact with a charity has a right to feel and be safe. This includes staff, volunteers and recipients of services.

The guidance from the NCVO makes clear that this means that charities have to create a welcoming and inclusive environment and culture, which “does not tolerate inappropriate, discriminatory, offensive or harmful behaviour” towards anyone who comes into contact with the charity.

It mentions the issue of abuse of power—a clear legacy from the Oxfam affair, but also, perhaps, other scandals involving inappropriate behaviour of those in positions of power. It also touches on the importance of supporting those who make allegations of misconduct or who do not feel safe.

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From Principles to Action

These principles were designed to act as a framework for decision-making by charity trustees, employees and volunteers.

They therefore provide a useful guide for thinking about the work of the charity—alongside an understanding of the charity’s own purposes, and how its work is “for the public good”. It is, however, up to charity trustees and employees to put the principles into action within their own charity.

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