I just read Anne Butterfield's message, forwarded by Elaine Gurian, regarding grant writing/fund raising on commission. Anne is absolutely correct on all points except for the "has been unethical in the past" part. In my experience, recent trends make it even more unethical now than it has been in the past. There are many grant writers and fund raisers who currently work on commission, primarily because it is very attractive to an organization who doesn't have a lot of up-front money. This is bad news for many reasons. First, if you pay a grant writer/fund raiser after they have raised the funds, you are pretty certain to be paying them from the proceeds. For federal grants, this is illegal. For fund-raising, unless you have clarified that purpose up front and gathered unrestricted funding (or restricted funding) for exactly that purpose you may be deceiving your donors. On a grand scale, this could be considered fraud. In addition to being illegal in several instances, it is generally considered unethical because the grant writer/fund raiser is forced to put the success/failure of the award over the success/failure of the project, and the dollar amount of an award over the capabilities of the organization to manage it. This is especially true if the grant writer/fund raiser is outside your organization. He/she may not care what kind of award is negotiated, and could promise the funder everything including the kitchen sink, without considering whether or not it is the kind of project the recipient intended, or whether they have the experience/resources/etc. to carry out the promised activities. I know there are many many grant writers/fund raisers out there who would never ever consider putting their own needs above the needs of the organization. But there are bound to be a few rotten apples in the barrel, and a small non-profit who got caught in a fraudulant and/or government payback situation would be in serious trouble. For these reasons, the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives (NSFRE) and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) have adopted codes of ethics which prohibit their members from engaging in grant writing/fund raising activities on a commission basis. I know the National Council for Resource Development is also considering adopting a similar code of ethics. So tread cautiously and follow the rest of Anne Butterfield's advice. Kathy Lear Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science and Technology [log in to unmask]