By Garry Matlow
INDC Treasurer

The same conditions that make organizations more responsive to customers lead to fraud, according to Dr. Bill Robinson, president of Whitworth College. Fundraisers are not immune from the pressures, Robinson told INDC members at their June meeting.

“You can’t take moral shortcuts,” he said, “even if it’s for the kids. It’s wrong.”

Speaking on “Ethics in Fundraising” – or as he called it, “Doing Good Well” – Robinson gave the audience several practical benchmarks to use in their development efforts. His source material included the words of William Butler Yeats, Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul, and his own book, “Leading People from the Middle.”

The trend toward decentralization and employee empowerment in the last quarter of the 20th century promoted growth and trust, Robinson said. He noted that a store where a clerk can approve a refund without a receipt is considered more customer-friendly than a business where the simplest of problems generates mounds of red tape.

The downside, he said, is that organizations built on trust are prone to fraud, citing the many corporate scandals of the past couple of years as proof. The scandals further serve to erode the public trust in non-profit charities, Robinson said. He cited the words of poet William Butler Yeats:
“…The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Non-profit fundraisers need to start with an ethical frame of mind, Robinson said. “Think sacred,” he said, describing fundraising as not just a job, but a calling. “Don’t let your calling grow cold,” he said.

Fundraisers deal on a daily basis with “wonderful people” in donors, Robinson said. He urged the audience to try having jargon-free meetings and refer to donors not in sales terms, but as people who give money to you because they love your mission. “Think people of nobility served by people of nobility,” he said.

Robinson put on his academic hat to describe the difference between doing good (the execution or how you do) and doing well (the ethics or what you do). He said the result should be “doing good well,” and gave this advice:

• Start with your need or goal and work backwards.
• Be current; know what’s going on.
• Does your plan pass the “buddy test”? If you get feedback from co-workers and others, your ideas invariably improve.
• He said if your actions lead to success, there is still danger because success often breeds: A redefinition of “good” and moral shortcuts.
• Filtering information and excluding what may be contrary to what you’ve made up your mind to do.
• A sense of invulnerability.

When judgment or ethics fail, rules come to the rescue, Robinson said, but he cautioned that rules will never replace good judgment.
Robinson gave the following ethical tests that can be applied to every decision:

• Does your plan pass the “grandmother test”? Would you be doing this if your grandmother were involved?
• Does your plan pass the “multiplication test”? If everyone used your plan, would it work for the common good?
• Does your plan pass the “aviation test”? “How’s the view from 34,000 feet?” he asked. Do the means and ends fit the big picture of what your organization is trying to do?
• Does your plan pass the “openness test”? Would you be comfortable with it if everyone were watching?

Robinson said he never allows someone in a meeting to say, “What if this gets out?” He said the assumption should always be made that it will get out.

Shifting to his secular hat, Robinson said the validity of a policy of openness was demonstrated in the management style of Jesus as described in the Gospel of  John.

First, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) Then, in the words of Jesus, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)

Robinson also made note of the Biblical principle of people reaping what they sow and quoted Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Robinson assumed his duties as the 17th president of Whitworth College in July 1993 after serving for seven years as president of Manchester College in Indiana. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa, his master's degree from Wheaton College, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

He also did postgraduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Moody Bible Institute. His scholarly work focused on organizational, small-group, cross-cultural and interpersonal communication.