Lessons in Nonprofit Ethics from Three Cups of Tea and 60 Minutes

Often when we discuss potential ethical dilemmas, someone says, "Do you want to see this on the front page of the paper?" I guess the question now is, "Do you want to see this on 60 Minutes?"

After the release of the 60 Minutes story investigating Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Executive Director of the Central Asia Institute, many questions have been raised about the truth of Mortenson's books, the legitimacy of his charity, and the transparency of the CAI's financials.

And all these questions have been raised just in time for me to do a presentation on fundraising ethics!

Originally, my presentation was supposed to summarize the findings of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Ethics Think Tank and use the case study format led by Paul Pribbenow, chair of the AFP Ethics Committee, to discuss fictional cases. Instead, I facilitated a discussion with participants from the AFP Northern Arizona Chapter about the issues and impact of the 60 Minutes story.

So, using Dr. Pribbenow's case study analysis process, here's what we learned from Three Cups of Tea and 60 Minutes: