Podcast: When Big Donors Push Back: Navigating Ethics in Your Capital Campaign

Season 5, Episode 40

What do you do when your biggest donor wants to fund something that isn’t in your campaign plan? Or when a wealthy prospect makes you uneasy but you can’t quite explain why? These are the kinds of ethical gray areas that surface in nearly every capital campaign—and most organizations aren’t prepared for them.

In this episode, Andrea Kihlstedt and Amy Eisenstein tackled the uncomfortable but essential topic of fundraising ethics. Prompted by the ongoing Epstein revelations — where major institutional leaders maintained relationships with a known bad actor long after red flags surfaced — the conversation expanded into the everyday ethical dilemmas that development directors and nonprofit leaders face during campaigns.

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