Conflict of Interest Policy

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

Conflict of interest policy serves several valuable functions for the organization, its trustees, officers, staff, and ultimately its constituents.  First, through disclosure and abstention procedures, conflict of interest policy can help to insure both that organization receives fair value for the goods and services it obtains and that no one affiliated with the organization receives an unfair benefit from such affiliation.  This might be viewed as protecting the fiscal interests of the organization, but it also important for Internal Revenue Service reason – to insure that no unwarranted benefits are conferred on officers, trustees or staff.  Conflict of interest policy protects also a potentially more substantial interest: the confidence of the donor/constituency/public community in the integrity, honesty, and mission of the organization.  The adoption and thorough implementation of conflict of interest policy and procedures Board of Trustees assure themselves that they are fulfilling their duties of loyalty, care, and fiduciary responsibility.  The capital and strength of a nonprofit organization is its reputation, integrity, and the quality of its programs.
The chief executive officer and the board must completely and actively support this process as critical to the fulfillment of the organization’s mission and the duties of its trustees and officers.

PROPOSED CONFLICT OF INTERESTS POLICY:

The Board of Trustees of International House (“Organization”) proposes the following policy to assure that the affairs of the Organization and its employees are managed in an ethical manner, free from the temptations for personal gain which conflicting desires may provide. There are no exceptions to this policy.

The International House expects all employees and trustees to exercise good judgment and the highest ethical standards in their private activities outside the Organization which in any way can affect International House. In particular, every employee and trustee has an obligation to avoid any activity, agreement, business investment or interest, or other situation which is in conflict with the Organization’s interests or interferes with the duty to serve the Company at all times to the best of the person’s ability. To implement this principle and to establish clear guidelines, the following policy has been adopted:

1.    No employee or trustee shall furnish services to or seek or receive, for personal or any other person’s gain, any payment, whether for services or otherwise, loan (except from a bank), gift or discount of more than nominal value, or entertainment which goes beyond common courtesies usually associated with accepted business practice, from any business enterprise which is a competitor of the Organization or has current or known prospective dealings with the Company as a supplier, customer, lessor or lessee, except with the prior written approval of the President/Chief Executive Officer upon complete disclosure of the facts.

2.    No employee or trustee shall for personal or any other person’s gain deprive the Company of any  opportunity for benefit which could be construed as related to any existing or reasonably anticipated future activity of the International House.

3.    No employee or trustee shall for personal or any other person’s gain make use of or disclose confidential information learned as a result of employment by International House of Philadelphia.

4.    No employee shall have any outside interest which materially interferes with the time or attention the employee should devote to the Company.

5.    No employee or trustee shall have a direct or indirect financial interest in, or receive any compensation or other benefits as a result of , transactions between any individual or business firm:

a)    From which the Organization purchases supplies, materials or property;
b)    Which renders any service to the International House of Philadelphia;
c)    Which enter into leases or assignments to or from the International House of Philadelphia;
d)    To which the International House sells any of its products, materials, facilities or properties;
e)    Which has any other contractual relations or business dealings with the International House;
except with the prior written approval of the President/Chief Executive Officer upon complete disclosure of the facts.

6.    If any employee or trustee or member of his or her family has or is about to assume an interest or other outside relationship which might result in a conflict of interest, it is the employee’s responsibility immediately to give all the pertinent information to the President/Chief Executive Officer, who shall report all information to the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees.