Doing the Right Thing is Never Wrong
I love working with and around bright people who can see through the fog of the future, and while not a perfectly clear picture, have an appreciation of what might happen. And at the same time, understand that doing the right thing now, even if no one's looking, might pay dividends in the future.
About 18 months ago, an old family friend reached out to me to chat a little bit about the nonprofit that he was involved with as a board member. He brought along one of his fellow board members just to pick my brain about their current situation. Bottom line of the story is that the nonprofit wasn't legally or operationally set up to be as successful as it should be, at that time or in the future. There was no crime or malice aforethought, just not best practice.
The two board members were most concerned about the future. That if they didn't adjust now, it could be harmful that the nonprofit wasn’t doing everything it should if the greater community ever did a “deep dive.” They centered on the importance of credibility and ethics in doing the right thing every single time. Unfortunately, we all don't deal with this kind of thought process enough.
Over more than a year, Hallett Philanthropy was able to help them make all aspects of the organization best practice. From policies to their operational procedures to their database, the year was well spent in making adjustments that the board, as a whole, dictated to be important.
Low and behold, the future came.
A completely separate and unrelated nonprofit reached the front page of the newspaper. For doing things that weren't best practice. And even though it was completely independent, there were some similarities in purpose and membership. As a result, the local media started digging around. Asking questions. And when they got to this nonprofit, the organization could lay out all the changes and best practices to ensure that this charity was operating at a high level of integrity and honor.
I take no credit for that success. Many of the adjustments to policies, procedures, infrastructure, and data were pretty basic. But important. The credit belongs to the two people I had lunch with 18 months ago. I don't think they could have envisioned the media asking questions, but they knew that doing the right thing is always important, whether anybody's watching or not. It reminds me of what my mom always said about integrity being the hallmark of the unwitnessed moment because it's in that instance that you decide whether you're going to do things the right way or the easy/selfish/wrong way.
It's important to remember that when no one's watching, that's when it's most important to do the right things…to set up the right processes. To bring in the right people. To think beyond that moment and more about/hone in on reputation, honor, and integrity. Those are the moments and the attributes that will always be a “true north” for not only best practice, but also for being a good stewards of the best parts of Philanthropy.
