How White Collar Crime Can Affect a NonProfit

Nonprofit organizations are those companies that operate with a specific purpose that is not related to making a profit. Typically, they have a goal to help people, cure a disease, protect a species, or bring awareness to a cause. They are generally thought of as being helpful and beneficial, and rely largely on donations to keep operating. However, if a scandal occurs, a nonprofit can quickly fall into trouble. One possible issue that can cause problems for a nonprofit  is white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Impact

While many people typically think of the people who run nonprofit organizations as being giving and completely unselfish, white collar crime can turn this perception on its head. White collar crime usually involves money and is motivated most often by greed. This type of crime can include money laundering, tax evasion, and embezzlement. To find out more about white collar crime, click here.

When white collar crime is discovered in a nonprofit, it immediately sparks a scandal. People who may have donated or supported the organization are likely to walk away. They don’t want to be associated with an organization where a trusted leader was found to have been operating in a way that completely goes against everything a nonprofit stands for. After all, a nonprofit is not in the business of making money so leaders in the organization can get rich. The organization exists to support a cause. All the efforts of everyone working in the organization should be focused on that.

Problems That Can Occur

When an organization’s leader has been found guilty of a white collar crime or even just been accused of committing one, the organization will immediately see the impact. People won’t trust in the organization anymore. People who donate to a nonprofit expect their money to go towards the cause, not to line some bigwig’s pockets. The nonprofit loses the trust of its donors and members. It is very difficult to come back from such a situation.

Solutions

While it can be almost impossible to come back after a scandal. It can be done. However, the trust needs to be rebuilt. The organization will likely have to create policies to ensure that something like this never happens again. Complete transparency will be required. It may even require a complete but of all paid positions with the organization being run totally by volunteers. If the commitment to the cause is strong, though, a nonprofit can bounce back and make it work.

One of the things a nonprofit that has found itself enthralled in a white collar crime situation can do is to take some notes on strategic planning. This will help the organization to rebuild in a quicker time span. USC Online notes some strategies that can be used in nonprofits. It is almost going to be as if the organization is started all over from the beginning but that is likely to be exactly what is needed to shake the scandal.

Nonprofits who get hit by a white collar crime can end up in serious trouble. It can be hard to rebuild. However, with time and commitment, it can be done. White collar crime shouldn’t stop an organization from reaching its goals.