Mike's Monday Message: Ethics Awareness Month 2024

In today's Mike's Monday Message, Mike shares the theme for Ethics Awareness Month 2024 - "Modernizing Ethical Fundraising". He discusses the changes to the AFP Code of Ethical Standards and some of the topics from October's ethics-focused issue of Advancing Philanthropy.

Hi, Mike from AFP here with this week's video Mike's Monday Message. October is right around the corner, which means here at AFP, we're getting ready for Ethics Awareness Month, a month where we dedicate the entire month to highlighting the importance of ethics within the fundraising profession. Promoting ethical fundraising has been a key part of AFP's mission since our founding, but how we define and live out our ethical fundraising principles has evolved over the years. In fact, over the last 60+ years since our founding.

And that's why the theme for this year's Ethics Awareness Month is modernizing ethical fundraising. For the last few years AFP volunteers have been working on updates to AFP's Code of Ethical Standards, taking into account all the ways that our world has changed since the last update in 2014. The new code places a greater emphasis on inclusion, diversity, equity, and access, as well as the numerous different career paths that exist within our profession, making sure that our standards are representative of the entire fundraising community. Throughout the month, be on the lookout for resources that will help you get to know the changes to the code, which will go into effect in January 2025.

I also encourage you to check out the October issue of Advancing Philanthropy magazine which covers modern ethics topics such as ethics in AI, gift acceptance policies, and due diligence. And of course, we encourage you to share your own ethics in fundraising stories on social media using the hashtag #EthicsAwarenessMonth. I'm looking forward to celebrating this Ethics Awareness Month with all of you. And as always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns that you may have. Happy Ethics Awareness Month!