Principles and Practices

for Nonprofit Excellence

The Origins of the Principles and Practices

The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits began this document on nonprofit accountability at its 1993 Annual Conference. We continued to develop it through community meetings, workshops and discussions throughout the state. Under the leadership of Dr. James P. Shannon, MCN joined with two organizations — the Charities Review Council of Minnesota and MAP for Nonprofits — to convene discussions on nonprofit standards and to develop principles of sound nonprofit management and accountability. The first draft of the Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence was circulated to nonprofit and philanthropic leaders throughout Minnesota and the United States in October 1994 and was approved by MCN’s Board of Directors in October 1998.

James V. Toscano and Marcia Nottingham chaired the original Committee on Nonprofit Standards, whose members included Judy Alnes, Angela Bies, Eve Borenstein, David Brown, Jennifer Gillespie, Betsy Jaros, Anne Long, Jon Pratt, Lois Schmidt, Laura Waterman Wittstock, Michael Wirth-Davis and Reid Zimmerman.

In 2004, James V. Toscano also led the charge to revise the Principles and Practices and was assisted by Stephanie Tribby-Walbridge with input from nonprofit leaders, including Marcia Avner, Kate Barr, Shelly Dreyling, Christine Durand, Stephanie Haddad, Audrey Kintzi, Anne Long, Craig Luedemann, Nan Madden, Ellen McVeigh, Leslie Nitabach, Jon Pratt, Sondra Reis, Sheila Smith, Melissa Stone, Bao Vang and Reid Zimmerman. Copyediting of the revised version was provided by professional editor Steve Gansen.

Thousands of copies of the draft of the revised version of the Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence were delivered to MCN members and the public via the Web and mail, and discussed in feedback sessions held in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Mankato, Grand Rapids and St. Cloud. The comments and suggestions gathered from MCN members and the public informed the final draft of the revised version, which was approved by the MCN Board of Directors on March 15, 2005.

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Principles and Practices

Click on the links below to jump to the different sections of The Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence.

• Introduction
• The Principles
• Role in Society

• Governance

• Planning

• Transparency and Accountability

• Fundraising

• Financial Management

• Human Resources

• Civic Engagement and Public Policy

• Strategic Alliances
• Evaluation
• Advice for Users
• The Origins of the Principles and Practices

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Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence