ABSTRACT
Ethical competence for members of nonprofit organizations means possessing the ability to use critical thinking with an understanding of: the nonprofit context; the frameworks for determining right and wrong; the recognition of the 'whole' of human resources and nonprofit systems; and a desire for fairness, equitable treatment, and respect for all persons, which results in the nonprofit making the right decisions as purveyors of the public good. This chapter describes several influential professional and educational associations' perspectives on ethical competence and discusses a means to develop and evaluate ethical competence. It also discusses the ethical framework of beneficiaries and the consequences of ethical decision making. McPeck addresses critical thinking from the framework of philosophy of education, but scholars in other disciplines have also entered into the critical thinking discussion. Elaine Englehardt references a study from the American Philosophical Association for the purpose of finding consensus among nearly 50 American critical thinking experts.
