Your perception of the professional standards is correct -- at least in
the sense that the Association of Fundraising Professionals has published
standards, adopted by the membership, that deny association membership to
grantwriters who work on such terms. The Evangelical Council for Financial
Accountability has a similar restriction for its member organizations.

There's a great deal of controversy about this issue; you can get a taste
of how the arguments go by looking at the "Fundraising" section of the
Nonprofit FAQ at http://www.nonprofits.org/

(My own personal view is that contingency fees in fundraising corrupt the
relationship between the organization and its donors.  I mention the
controversy only to be candid that not everyone accepts this view.)

Putnam Barber
The Evergreen State Society
Seattle, WA  USA

On Mon, 4 Mar 2002 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> I am new to the grantwriting world and am preparing my first grants for a small historical society. Right now, they are paying me by the hour to do grantwriting plus a whole lot of other stuff.
>
> In a meeting today however, the treasurer of the board butts in and says that after this temporary pay-by-the-hour period is over, from then on I will be working on a percentage basis based on whatever grants I win for them.
>
> Now, I thought that this was considered somewhat unethical by grantwriters today. Is that true, or did I make that up? I thought I had heard somewhere that professional grantwriters don't work on commission, so to speak. When I said as much to the treasurer, he said, "Well, why not? Makes 'em work harder!"
>
> I am interested to know what the other thoughts out there are on this subject? You can reply on or off-list, my email is [log in to unmask]
>
> Thank you so much.
> Valerie Schafer
> Administrative Assistant
> Garnet Preservation Association
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nonprofit mailing list
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).