Hard-wire Ethical Values in Nonprofits: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article Offers Ways to Promote Ethical Conduct

STANFORD, Calif., June 3, 2009 — In the summer 2009 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review two Stanford Law School scholars examine the ethical issues that arise specifically in the nonprofit sector, and suggest the best ways to promote ethical behavior within organizations.

“Ethical challenges arise at all levels in all types of organizations—for-profit, nonprofit, and government—and involve a complex relationship between individual character and cultural influences,” write Deborah Rhode and Amanda Packel. Drawing on the growing body of research on organizational culture in general, and in nonprofit institutions in particular, they identify four crucial factors that influence ethical conduct: moral awareness, moral decision making, moral intent, and moral action. Rhode is the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, where Packel is associate director.