The Standards for Excellence have been produced to present an appropriate level of ethical and accountable practices for Catholic nonprofits.  They respond to the call to good stewardship and accountability in the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response.  The Standards serve as a model for nonprofits to implement in their operations and governance.

Catholic nonprofits must comply with the Church’s own canon law as well as applicable local, state, and federal laws.  These Standards for Excellence build upon that foundation, and go a step further. Based on fundamental values - such as honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, trust, compassion, responsibility, and accountability - these Standards for Excellence describe how Catholic parishes should act to be ethical and accountable in their program operations, governance, human resources, financial management and fundraising. 

Eight (8) Guiding Principles are provided, along with fifty-five (55) standards - more detailed performance benchmarks that will enable Catholic organizations to strengthen their operations.  

• Mission and Program
• Governance and Advisory Bodies
• Conflict of Interest
• Human Resources
• Financial and Legal
• Openness
• Fundraising
• Public Life and Public Policy

The Standards for Excellence are intended to describe how the most well managed and responsibly governed Catholic nonprofits operate.  They provide benchmarks related to temporal affairs to determine how well a Catholic nonprofit is fulfilling its obligations to those who benefit from its ministry programs, its contributors, and to the public both inside and outside the Church. 

One great way to put the Standards for Excellence to work in your organization is to share copies with board members and staff of your nonprofit. Use the Standards to benchmark how your organization operates in comparison to the well accepted practices described in the Standards.

To order a single copy of the code click here.

To order bulk copies for distribution to your board members and staff, please email Standards@nlrcm.org or call 202-223-8962

For information about becoming a Partner in Excellence and gaining access to education resource materials for implementing each of the Standards, please contact Standards@nlrcm.org or call 202-223-8962