December 17, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The financial fraud allegedly perpetrated by the philanthropist and financier Bernard Madoff exposes an uncomfortable double-standard in the nonprofit world, writes Tom Belford, a fund-raising consultant.
While in recent years charities have faced increased scrutiny, in the case of Mr. Madoff, it was a donor — and how he invested the money of other donors — that should have been examined, he writes on his blog, The Agitator.
“Who’s supposed to be protecting the charities from the unscrupulous donors?!” Mr. Belford writes.
And while the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to investigate Mr. Madoff, “let one nonprofit emit an errant fart and grandstanding members of Congress and the IRS would be all over it (the nonprofit, that is) like ticks on a hound,” he says.
Read The Chronicle’s article about how Mr. Madoff’s alleged scam is threatening nonprofit groups. Read other nonprofit observations about the Madoff incident.
What do you think? What lessons can the nonprofit world learn from this? Click on the comments link to share your views.
