CVA Professional Ethics and Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A volunteer coordinator discovers that a fellow staff member is inflating volunteer hour counts to meet grant requirements. What is the ethically appropriate first step?
- Ignore it since it benefits the organization
- Report it directly to the media
- Address the concern through internal reporting channels or supervision (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague publicly at a staff meeting
Correct answer: Address the concern through internal reporting channels or supervision
Ethical conduct requires addressing misconduct through established internal channels before escalating externally.
Question 2: Which principle of volunteer administration ethics requires treating all volunteers fairly regardless of their personal backgrounds?
- Stewardship
- Equity and inclusion (Correct answer)
- Autonomy
- Beneficence
Correct answer: Equity and inclusion
Equity and inclusion ensures volunteers receive fair treatment irrespective of race, gender, religion, or other personal characteristics.
Question 3: A CVA practitioner is asked by their executive director to share confidential volunteer data with a board member for personal use. The practitioner should:
- Share the data since the board member outranks them
- Refuse and explain that volunteer confidentiality must be protected (Correct answer)
- Share only partial data as a compromise
- Ask the volunteer first, then share without waiting for a reply
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that volunteer confidentiality must be protected
Volunteer administrators have an ethical obligation to protect volunteer confidentiality even when pressured by authority figures.
Question 4: What does the CVA Code of Ethics mean by 'stewardship of resources'?
- Using organizational funds for personal professional development without approval
- Managing volunteer time, talent, and organizational assets responsibly and transparently (Correct answer)
- Ensuring volunteers always work overtime to maximize output
- Directing all donations to the volunteer program budget
Correct answer: Managing volunteer time, talent, and organizational assets responsibly and transparently
Stewardship means responsibly managing all resources entrusted to the volunteer program for maximum community benefit.
Question 5: When is it ethical for a volunteer administrator to accept a gift from a volunteer?
- Whenever the gift is offered sincerely
- Only when the gift is expensive enough to be meaningful
- When it falls within organizational policy guidelines and does not create a conflict of interest (Correct answer)
- Never under any circumstances
Correct answer: When it falls within organizational policy guidelines and does not create a conflict of interest
Gift acceptance is governed by organizational policy; small tokens of appreciation that don't create conflicts are generally acceptable.
Question 6: A volunteer administrator learns that a volunteer has a criminal record that was not disclosed during screening. The ethical response includes:
- Immediately terminating the volunteer without discussion
- Reviewing organizational policy and conducting a fair individualized assessment (Correct answer)
- Ignoring it because the volunteer has been doing well
- Sharing the information with other volunteers for their safety
Correct answer: Reviewing organizational policy and conducting a fair individualized assessment
Fair treatment requires an individualized assessment based on organizational policy rather than automatic termination.
Question 7: Which ethical concept requires volunteer administrators to act in the best interest of those they serve, including both volunteers and clients?
- Non-maleficence
- Fidelity
- Beneficence (Correct answer)
- Justice
Correct answer: Beneficence
Beneficence is the ethical duty to act in ways that promote the wellbeing of volunteers, clients, and the community.
CVA Professional Ethics and Conduct 2
A volunteer coordinator discovers that a fellow staff member is inflating volunteer hour counts to meet grant requirements.
What is the ethically appropriate first step?