How to develop an ethical decision-making policy
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Why does it matter?
An ethical decision-making policy helps your organisation make consistent and transparent decisions that align with your organisation’s values, purpose and stakeholder expectations. This helps protect your organisation’s integrity and reputation.
An ethical decision-making policy can help with:
- accepting funding or sponsorship: to help assess whether funding and sponsorship opportunities align with your organisation’s values
- entering a new partnership: to assess a potential partner’s conduct, reputation and values
- significant changes to programs, services or operations: to ensure changes were made with respectful engagement with communities, promote fair treatment of staff, encourage environmental sustainability, foster intercultural exchange and protect stakeholder information.
Who is responsible for the policy?
The board, together with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or executive leadership team, is responsible for developing and overseeing the policy. Staff should also be given the chance to contribute.
Step 1. Define ethical principles
Identify the core values and ethical principles that guide your organisation. These should align with your organisation's vision, mission and stakeholder expectations.
Step 2. Assess ethical risks
Assess the potential ethical risks and challenges your organisation may face. Consider risks related to:
- conflicts of interest
- diversity, cultural sensitivity and safety
- climate and environment responsibility
- organisational sustainability
- funding and sponsorship
- intellectual property and copyright
- working with First Nations peoples
- modern slavery
- artistic integrity and representation of sensitive issues
- community and social impact
- collaboration and partnerships
- public engagement and advocacy
- touring and international engagements.
Ethics you should consider when raising private sector support
About to receive a philanthropic gift? Protect your reputation by considering the ethics first. Consider what ethical questions to ask before entering a business partnership.
Step 3. Establish decision-making criteria
Develop a set of criteria to help assess ethical issues and guide decision-making. The criteria should reflect your organisation’s values and ethical principles. The board should lead this process as part of its responsibility to act in the best interests of the organisation and its stakeholders.
These criteria may include positive criteria (for example, 'we will work with partners who have an environmental action plan in place') and negative criteria (for example, 'we will not work with partners who invest in fossil fuels').
When developing your criteria, consider:
- the organisation’s direction
- the organisation’s values and obligations
- the consequences of decision-making
- risk identification and management
- accountability and transparency
- legal compliance.
Step 4. Involve stakeholders
Seek input and perspectives from key stakeholders, such as staff and volunteers, artists, funders and representatives of your community. Their perspectives can help inform decisions and support a more inclusive process.
Step 5. Consult ethical guidelines and standards
Refer to relevant ethical guidelines, codes of conduct and industry standards when developing your policy. These resources can provide practical guidance and examples of good practice.
Step 6. Develop decision-making process
Establish a clear process for ethical decision-making within your organisation. This may include defining roles and responsibilities, identifying decision-makers and setting clear accountability.
Step 7. Communicate and train
Clearly communicate the ethical decision-making policy to employees and stakeholders. Provide training and education resources to enhance understanding of ethical principles and how to apply them in practice.
Step 8. Monitor and review
Regularly review the effectiveness of your ethical decision-making policy. Monitor compliance, gather stakeholder feedback and consider emerging ethical issues that may affect your organisation.
Not sure where to start? Use our template and adapt it to suit your organisation's needs.
