The issues surrounding Goldman Sachs highlight many of challenges facing the business ethics industry. There has been a public furor over the integrity of certain industries, such as finance, even though the leaders of those companies can state categorically that they acted legally, and ethically, within the guidelines they have worked within for some time. …

Tomorrow is the first day of the Social Enterprise Alliance’s annual Summit, a national conference that features a wide variety of presentations, workshops and networking in this field. This year’s Summit is being held in San Francisco. More information is available at www.se-alliance.org. If you can make it to the conference, great, I know you …

As mentioned previously, overcoming the myth of the "paper trail" requires building a performance culture.

What do the month of May, the 50th anniversary of the Pill and a pending big bill for rental tuxedos and pretty dresses have in common? If you guessed the Prom, you’re about half right — and, some would say, maybe a little morally jaded. But if you have a news announcement that can somehow …

Everyone has or should have a general idea of how much time it takes to develop a new training program. In the research I’ve done times are all over the place 10:1 all the way up to 40:1 the later being very generous. I think if you had a 40:1 ratio you’d never find a …

Is Direct Response Marketing still a powerful concept in the digital age? Marketing in the digital world is a race for the most current information, the best technology, and the fastest implementation. David Ogilvy remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, Ted Bates) who shaped the business after the 1920s.

Board Management in Fundraising: Setting Up the Facts MYTH: Every Board Member must make an “example-setting” major gift. REALITY: Every Board Member must set an example by giving to the best of his/her ability. Even a dollar (if that’s all s/he can afford) will help demonstrate, to other potential (individual and institutional) funders, that every …

The benefits of having a business plan include: Helping you to clarify your vision and deciding whether or not to forge ahead with the idea. Determining if your product and/or service has a sufficient market to support it and whether or not it will be profitable. Providing an estimate of your start-up costs and how …

Many social enterprises in the US come from the nonprofit sector, and a common way to measure nonprofit social enterprise is through earned income. Generally earned income refers to selling goods or services in exchange for a quid pro quo payment. In other words, you only get paid if you deliver the goods. Based on …

The Doctor Recommends Crisis Prevention:  But It’s Your Choice [Written with a healthcare industry slant, but obviously applicable to most organizations] There’s a death or serious injury due to questionable circumstances. An employee is accused of impropriety. Your company is acquired by or is acquiring another. A natural disaster occurs. There’s an investigation of your …