Standards in Action

A number of funding organizations are beginning to incorporate the Standards for Excellence® into their process for screening potential grant recipients.  Here are a few examples:

City of San Diego Request for Proposal cites Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. The City of San Diego recently issued a Request for Proposal to conduct a professional performance audit of a large city nonprofit.  Successful bidders for this  performance audit are required to "determine if organizational goals are being achieved by using the national "Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector... as criteria in assessing the performance of the organization." 

Constellation Energy, Baltimore, MD:

This large public utility is known for active philanthropy in the State of Maryland.  It has added a question to its grant application asking applicants to identify whether the have been certified under the Standards for Excellence® or an equivalent.

United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Boston, MA:

This large United Way organization recently redesigned the application agencies must complete to apply to participate in the United Way campaign. The new application specifically identifies the Standards for Excellence® and asks applicants to demonstrating that they are meeting 20 of the specific standards.

Please let us know of other creative ways that your organizations are putting the Standards for Excellence® to work.