Ethics in Grant Essay

Ethics is described as moral principles and obligations that determine the wrongness and correctness of actions. It is associated with values and righteousness of every individual conduct. As a human being we are responsible for our actions and we have moral obligations for the welfare of others. Ethics cover our everyday life from what we think, decisions we make our philosophy and behavior to our everyday actions. In different professional field, standard and code of ethics are practiced to ensure proper conduct and behavior of those involved in the field. Ethics in grant has always been controversial. Issues associated with ethical behavior often arise from grant projects. The involvement of large amount of money causes the issues and suspicion to rise. An example of an issue that may arise from a grant project is commissioning. Commission refers to the fee paid to an employee after venturing to a successful business or closing a deal. However, professional organizations and funders consider commissioning unethical in nature. This is because compensation with regards to commissioning based on charitable contributions and donations are ugly site to see. Unlike salesmen, who get a cut from the proceeds they made, professionals who are involved in grant projects are considered skilled and talented people who lend and utilized their expertise in order to obtain huge support and following for the work and project that an organization is aiming to achieve. These are usually projects that requires huge amount of funding. If commissions are paid in favor of the grant workers in order to generate money, it would seems people are working because of the money involved and not because of the dedication one has to obtain support for the completion of the project In fact, the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practices of the Association of Fundraising Professional, clearly outlines that compensation based on a percentage of fundraising should not be accepted. Sincerity and honesty is another issue that that is usually associated with Grant projects. Honesty comes into play when errors are committed while the project is being done. This happens when proposals made is not enough for the project to be successful and major changes are needed. Employees often resort to covering things up in an effort to conceal the miscalculations and mistakes done during proposal. Cover up is done because the fear of losing the funder since the original plans agreed upon fail to materialize. Employees then tend to lie and pretend everything runs smoothly. To prevent ethical issues rising from Grant Projects, it is important to be honest and to tell everything that that is going on to the funder. By being honest, one can earn the funder’s trust and trust is important in every project to be successful. Furthermore, Grant makers and funders appreciate sincerity and honesty and they are open to changes from original plans that have been set, since changes that are made will yield promising results for the project. If an error with the project has been discovered, it is necessary to report at once. Also, it would be ethical to issue an apology if things are not carried out properly as promised. With the huge sum of money involved in Grant Projects, it will be helpful for anyone to be honest in every little way to prevent ethical issues from occurring. Sincerity for the project’s completion and the responsibility one owes from the funder and from those who support the organization in building the project should make one realize the misconduct of falling into the temptation the large sum of money brings. One should understand that an arrangement in which one obtain a kickback is unethical. To preserve one’s name and his reputation as a person and professional one must keep away from doing them.