Policies

• Bylaws
• Charity Evaluations: Scope of Consideration
• Donation Policy: Potential conflicts of interest
• Donor Privacy
• Gift Acceptance Policy
• Board of Directors’ Conflict of Interest Policy (from bylaws)
• Employment/Affiliation COI Policy for All Staff and Board (Evaluations and Grantmaking)
• Movement Grants Disbursement Policy
• Social Media Policies
• Respect in the Workplace Policy
• Responsible AI usage policy
• Code of Conduct
• Privacy Policy

Bylaws

Bylaws are rules that an organization creates to regulate itself. They also establish guidelines that govern future choices. The ACE Bylaws provide details about our governance and decision-making process.

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Charity Evaluations: Scope of Consideration

We consider for recommendation primarily groups which act on behalf of animals through their own programs. We do not consider foundations or other groups which use a large part of their budget to make grants to other organizations within our scope of consideration. However, the existence of a grant program as part of a group’s activities does not remove it from our consideration if the program a) represents a small portion of the organization’s total expenditures and/or b) primarily distributes small-scale grants to individuals or to groups with overall very low budgets. The intent of this decision is to avoid evaluating organizations which would primarily redistribute donations to other groups that we could evaluate individually while leaving open the possibility of recommending an organization which supports small-scale and early-stage projects through grants, as we could not direct individual donations to such projects accurately or efficiently on our own.

We do not consider ACE as a charity for recommendation, as doing so would create a conflict of interest. Additionally, we do not consider organizations whose primary leadership has donated to ACE. See our donation policy below for more details.

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Donation Policy: Potential conflicts of interest

Our donation policy helps ensure that we do not have a conflict of interest between our donors and our recommendations. We include the entire policy below.

Section 1. Definition

A conflict of interest arises when one of the following organizations—or an individual leader at such an organization—offers a donation to ACE for general operating:

1. an ACE-recommended charity
2. a charity ACE is currently evaluating for recommendation
3. a past Movement Grants recipient
4. an organization whose application for a Movement Grant is currently under review
5. a charity previously recommended by ACE

In these contexts, “leader” refers to key decision-making individuals at the organization, such as the Executive Director and Board Chair. If a situation arises where there is uncertainty about whether an individual is considered a leader for the purpose of this policy, ACE’s Development Director will decide.

A conflict of interest also arises when one of the following offers a donation to ACE:

6. An individual researcher who has received an Animal Advocacy Research Fund (AARF) grant in the past
7. An individual researcher whose application for an AARF grant is currently under review

A conflict of interest also arises if ACE applied for and is awarded a grant from an organization that was then recommended by ACE.

Section 2. Addressing conflicts of interest

In the donations section of ACE’s website, we link our Gift Acceptance Policy which lists the restrictions we have in place to prevent the type of conflicts of interest described in this policy.

Should ACE receive a donation from an organization listed above (i-v), from an individual leader at such an organization, or from a researcher listed above (vi and vii) and that organization or individual has contributed more than 100 USD that calendar year including their current gift, the donation will be returned and the donor will be directed to our Gift Acceptance Policy for future reference.

Additionally, if an organization applies for a Movement Grant or begins the charity evaluation process and ACE realizes that this organization (or an individual leader at the organization) has made a donation to ACE in the six months prior, ACE will give the organization or individual the option of a refund so that the organization can remain eligible for the grant or evaluation. Similarly, if an individual researcher applies for an AARF grant and ACE realizes that they made a donation to ACE in the six months prior, ACE will give the researcher the option of a refund so that they may remain eligible for an AARF grant.

If an individual who has previously donated to ACE later takes a leadership role at an organization listed above (i-v), or an organization which has previously granted to ACE later becomes an organization listed above (i-v), future donations from the individual or organization which would put their contributions above the annual threshold will not be accepted, but ACE will not be required to return past contributions.

ACE will not apply for grants from charities that could be considered for future recommendation.

Section 3. Potential exceptions

Potential exceptions—situations in which we would accept the donation—include but are not limited to:

1. A donation from a previously-recommended charity (v), or from an individual leader at that charity, if they have not been recommended for at least three years
2. A donation from an organization listed above (i-v), or from an individual leader at such an organization, if the organization surrenders its potential to be evaluated by ACE for the next three years and surrenders its potential to receive a grant from ACE in the next three years. E.g. if the organization donated in January, 2021, they would next be eligible for evaluation in 2024.
3. A donation from an organization listed above (i-v), or from an individual leader at such an organization, if ACE was not aware of the affiliation creating a conflict of interest at the time of receipt. ACE may choose to keep the donation even if we become aware of such an affiliation at a later time, because no undue influence would have been conferred at the time the donation was accepted.
4. A donation from a researcher (vi and vii), if that researcher surrenders their potential to receive a grant from ACE in the next three years.
5. If an organization has surrendered its potential to be considered in relation to a donation from an individual leader at an organization listed above (i-v), and that individual is no longer associated with the organization, we can reinstate the organization’s potential to be considered for recommendation or a grant without waiting the full three years.

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Donor privacy

Our commitment to respect the privacy of our supporters extends to how we obtain, use, protect, and share information about them. For any personal identifying information that is shared with ACE, either by making a donation or signing up to receive email updates from ACE, it will be stored in our database and protected as follows:

We do not share, sell, or trade the names or contact information of our donors or email subscribers with any other entities, except as described below.

For people who make a donation to a Recommended Charity through ACE, their name and contact information will be shared only with the charity/charities to which they made a donation. Our Recommended Charities are required not to share these donors’ information with any other entities without first obtaining the donor’s permission. If a donor prefers for their gift to be reported anonymously to our Recommended Charities, they can let us know.

For any published names (for example, in our Year in Review, on our Top Donors web page, or on our Testimonials web page), we have obtained explicit permission from the supporters to publish their names and any accompanying information.

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Gift Acceptance Policy

Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) solicits and accepts gifts¹ for purposes that will help the organization further fulfill its mission. Some prospective donors may wish to consult with legal and financial advisors in matters relating to their gifts, including the resulting tax and estate planning consequences; ACE is not able to advise on such matters. The following policies and guidelines govern the acceptance of gifts made to ACE for use in our own operations, as well as gifts made to ACE that are restricted to our Recommended Charity Fund, Movement Grants, or any specific Recommended Charity.

Gifts Generally Accepted Without Review

• Cash: Cash gifts are acceptable in any form, including by check, money order, credit card, or online.
• Marketable Securities: Marketable securities may be transferred electronically to an account maintained at one or more brokerage firms or delivered physically with the transferor’s endorsement or signed stock power (with appropriate signature guarantees) attached. All marketable securities will be sold promptly upon receipt unless otherwise directed by ACE’s’ Executive Director to be kept for strategic program purposes.
• Bequests and Beneficiary Designations under Revocable Trusts, Life Insurance Policies, Commercial Annuities and Retirement Plans: Donors are encouraged to make bequests to ACE under their wills and to name ACE as the beneficiary under trusts, life insurance policies, commercial annuities, and retirement plans.
• Charitable Remainder Trusts: ACE will accept designation as a remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts.
• Charitable Lead Trusts: ACE will accept designation as an income beneficiary of charitable lead trusts.

Gifts Accepted Subject to Prior Review

Certain forms of gifts or donated properties may be subject to review before acceptance. Examples of gifts subject to prior review include, but are not limited to:

• Tangible Personal or Intellectual Property: The Executive Director shall review and determine whether to accept any gifts of tangible personal or intellectual property in light of the following considerations: Does the property further the organization’s mission? Is the property marketable? Are there any unacceptable restrictions imposed on the property? Are there any carrying costs for the property for which the organization may be responsible? Is the title/provenance of the property clear?
• Life Insurance: ACE will accept gifts of life insurance where ACE is named as both beneficiary and irrevocable owner of the insurance policy. The donor must agree to pay, before due, any future premium payments owing on the policy.
• Real Estate: All gifts of real estate are subject to review by the Executive Director. Considerations for acceptance of gifts of real estate include: Is the property useful for the organization’s purposes? Is the property readily marketable? Are there covenants, conditions, restrictions, reservations, easements, encumbrances, or other limitations associated with the property? Are there carrying costs (including insurance, property taxes, mortgages, notes, or the like) or maintenance expenses associated with the property? Does an environmental review or audit reflect that the property is damaged or otherwise requires remediation?

Restrictions on Gifts

Animal Charity Evaluators will not accept gifts that:

1. Would result in a violation of its corporate charter;
2. Would result in ACE losing its status as an IRC § 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization;
3. Are too difficult or too expensive to administer in relation to their value;
4. Would result in any unacceptable consequences;
5. Are for purposes outside our mission;
6. Are allocated to ACE’s own operations and are from a current ACE-recommended charity, a charity ACE is currently evaluating for recommendation, a past Movement Grant recipient, a current Movement Grant applicant, a charity ACE recommended in the last three years, or an individual leader of any such organization listed here. These individuals would include, but are not limited to, the charity’s Executive Director and Board Chair. Gift restrictions in category (F) only apply when the total value of gifts received from said individuals or organizations exceeds $100 USD per calendar year, and when the organization has not surrendered its potential to be evaluated for recommendation or to be awarded a Movement Grant from ACE.

Decisions on the restrictive nature of a gift and its acceptance or refusal shall be made by the Executive Director, optionally in consultation with the Board of Directors.

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Board of Directors’ Conflict of Interest Policy

Our conflict of interest policy helps ensure that board members are not influencing decisions where they, their family, or their business interests could benefit or be harmed financially. We include the entire policy below. It can also be found in our bylaws.

Section 1. Definition

A conflict of interest arises whenever an individual is in a position to approve or influence corporation policies or actions which involve or could potentially benefit or harm financially:
(a) the individual;
(b) any member of the individual’s immediate family (spouse, parents, children, brothers or sisters, and spouses of these individuals); or
(c) any corporation in which the individual or an immediate family member is a director, officer, member, or partner.

Section 2. Disclosure of conflicts of interest

A director or officer shall disclose to the President, secretary, or board a conflict of interest:
(a) prior to voting on or otherwise discharging any duties with respect to any matter involving the conflict;
(b) prior to the corporation entering into any contract or transaction involving the conflict;
(c) as soon as possible after the director or officer learns of the conflict; and
(d) on any conflict of interest disclosure form required by the corporation. The Board of Directors, by a two-thirds vote of all disinterested directors then in office, may remove a director or officer for failure to promptly disclose a known conflict of interest.

Section 3. Actions involving potential conflicts of interest

Following receipt of information concerning a contract or transaction involving a potential conflict of interest, the board shall consider the material facts concerning the proposed contract or transaction including the process by which the decision was made to recommend entering into the arrangement on the terms proposed. The board shall approve only those contracts or transactions in which the terms are fair and reasonable to the corporation and the arrangements are consistent with the best interests of the corporation. Fairness includes, but is not limited to, the concepts that the corporation should pay no more than fair market value for any goods or services which the corporation receives and that the corporation should receive fair market value consideration for any goods or services that it furnishes others. The board shall set forth the basis for its decision with respect to approval of contracts or transactions involving conflicts of interest in the minutes of the meeting at which the decision is made, including the basis for determining that the consideration to be paid is fair to the corporation. The interested director or officer should not be present for the discussion and decision concerning the authorization of such contract or transaction; however, interested directors may be counted in determining the presence of a quorum at a meeting of the Board of Directors or committee which authorizes such contract or transaction.

Section 4. Compensation of directors and officers

No director or officer of the corporation shall receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation or other payment from the corporation, unless authorized by the concurring vote of two-thirds (2/3) of all the directors then in office and in no event shall any compensation or payment be paid or made, except reasonable compensation for services actually rendered or reimbursement for disbursements actually incurred.

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Employment/Affiliation COI Policy For All Staff And Board (Evaluations And Grantmaking)

Scope

Our employment/affiliation conflict of interest (COI) policy applies to all ACE employees, select contractors, and fellows (together referred to as “staff members”), as well as ACE board members. Advisory board members are not subject to the confines of this policy given their infrequent involvement and lack of decision-making authority. This policy supplements the COI policies specific to our Charity Evaluations and Movement Grants programs, which have procedures for their respective committees. Collectively, all staff and board are referred to as “ACE team members.”

Purpose

ACE team members might be actively involved in, or have close personal ties to, organizations whose work benefits from ACE’s charity evaluations and grantmaking. These connections can help give team members useful context and information, but they can also create actual, potential, or perceived COIs. The goal of this Policy is to ensure ACE openly and fairly deals with situations where personal gain, gain for family members, or gain for other close relations could improperly influence decision-making or lead to the perception of unfairness at ACE.

Affiliations with Evaluated Charities

A COI may arise when an ACE team member has ties with an organization eligible for evaluation by ACE. There are different affiliations ACE team members or former staff members could have with the charities we evaluate, some of which might be considered a conflict of interest.

The Charity Evaluations Manager is responsible for sharing a draft list of charities they expect to evaluate and asking all ACE team members about potential COIs before charity evaluations start.

This table lists different possible affiliations between ACE team members and the charities that we evaluate. For each type of affiliation, we indicate whether it is allowed and whether any actions need to be taken.

In addition, a COI could arise when ACE is working on a project with a charity that is currently being evaluated or recommended. ACE attempts to limit extensive or repeated collaboration with any charity eligible for evaluation.

Staff members on the Charity Evaluations team

Of particular concern are COI situations involving ACE team members who are directly involved in ACE’s charity evaluations and recommendation decisions—referred to as the “evaluation team” in this policy. Individual COIs could take multiple forms, for example:

• Close personal relationship (e.g., marriage, family, close friendship) with a staff member of a charity being evaluated or considered for evaluation;
• Past employment at a charity being evaluated or considered for evaluation;
• Serving on the Board of Directors of a charity being evaluated or considered for evaluation; or
• Ongoing volunteer involvement with a charity being evaluated or considered for evaluation.

These COIs are not all equal in weight. While evaluation team members involved in charity evaluations and recommendation decisions are expected to disclose all relevant COIs, how we handle each COI depends on its seriousness.

• Serious COIs (e.g., employment within the last three years, close personal relationship with a staff member) disqualify an evaluation team member from being involved in evaluating the charity in the normal way. Alternative procedures are outlined below.
• Minor COIs (e.g., volunteering informally with the charity) must be acknowledged and the evaluation team member must let the Charity Evaluations Manager (see org chart) know if, under the circumstances, they feel they cannot impartially contribute to the charity evaluation. In general, we expect it to be possible for those with minor COIs to continue with evaluation and recommendation decisions as normal.

Some conflicts may fall between the outlined serious and minor levels, particularly those involving a personal relationship between an evaluation team member and a staff or board member of the evaluated charity that is not close enough to be definitively classed as a serious COI. In these cases, we expect the evaluation team member involved to work with the Charity Evaluation Manager or the Programs Director to find an appropriate level of involvement for the situation, defaulting to the procedures for a serious COI if they are unsure of the appropriate course of action. If any evaluation team member has an above minor-level COI with an evaluated charity, ACE will disclose this information in the charity’s review.

If an evaluation team member has a serious COI with a charity they would otherwise participate in evaluating, they must:

• Check ACE’s employment/affiliation policy to see whether any action is required (e.g., resigning from a charity board position);
• Formally abstain from suggesting a course of action for this charity when asked in general which charities should be evaluated or recommended;
• Leave discussions or calls about the evaluation process while the charity in question is being discussed;
• Treat any information they have about ACE’s evaluation process as highly confidential and refrain from sharing it outside the evaluation team unless they have specific permission to do so (if they feel this will present undue difficulty for them, they should not read draft reviews); and
• Remind others (at any time) that they are recused from offering an opinion due to a COI.

They must not:

• Participate in any aspect of the evaluation or recommendation process for that charity.

They can still:

• Suggest what course of action to pursue for other charities and participate in discussions about them.
  • In general, their contribution to other charity evaluations will not affect what will happen to the charity with which they have a COI. In most stages of the process, including deciding on final recommendations, there is not a specific target number of charities to include, so the evaluation team has the flexibility to include or exclude an additional charity if they feel it appropriate to do so.

Additional care is required to ensure that the conflict does not pose a problem for the neutrality of the review. In particular:

• Any evaluation team member with a serious COI with a charity being evaluated must not have access to draft reviews or review materials until these have been edited by all staff participating fully in the evaluation of the charity in question to reflect a consensus viewpoint, thus partially anonymizing the views of any team members who worked on the evaluation. Another evaluation team member will restrict their access to the initial documents created and will provide them with access to copies without comment/edit history at the appropriate time.
• If any evaluation team member has a serious COI with a charity being evaluated, this team member must not have access to information about who has drafted each section of the review to further anonymize team member contributions.
• If any evaluation team member has an identified COI with a charity being considered for evaluation, a committee member will be designated to create and monitor an anonymous feedback form for staff to use in reporting concerns over the handling of the COI. The designated individual will relay feedback from this form to the Charity Evaluations Manager (if concerning an evaluation team member) or to the Programs Director (if concerning the Charity Evaluations Manager), lightly editing the feedback submission if necessary to preserve anonymity.
• Evaluation team members are prohibited from applying for employment with any charities currently under evaluation (this includes all stages of the evaluation process, from the day ACE sends a charity an invite to be evaluated, up to and including the charity recommendations announcement).

Disclosure

Should a COI such as those listed above (or others) arise or be discovered, a board member must disclose it to the Chair of the Board and a staff member must disclose it to the Charity Evaluations Manager or their supporter (see ACE’s organization chart),

1. before engaging in any duties concerning any matter involving the conflict;
2. as soon as possible after the board or staff member learns of the conflict; and
3. on the conflict of interest disclosure form required by ACE.

ACE team members aware of potential COIs due to another team member’s affiliation with an evaluated charity are encouraged to bring their concerns directly to the Charity Evaluations Manager or their supporter, rather than the party with the COI. The identity of the individual who brought up their concerns should not be disclosed to the party with the COI without prior consent.

ACE team members’ affiliations (COIs and non-COIs, including any ACE collaborations on projects) with reviewed charities must be listed in the published charity reviews while specifying whether or not the team member was involved in the recommendation decisions.

Procedures addressing employment/affiliation COIs

Should ACE discover an external relationship that does not adhere to this policy, the ACE team member involved will be directed to resolve their relationship to comply. If such a relationship cannot be resolved, ACE will take action to remedy the situation—this may include restructuring the staff team or refraining from evaluating the affiliated charity for a period of time, as appropriate.

Affiliations with Movement Grants Applicants

A COI might arise when an ACE team member has ties with an organization that applies for a Movement Grant from ACE. There are different affiliations ACE team members or former staff members could have with the charities we consider for grants, some of which may be considered a conflict of interest.

After screening out grant applications that are out of scope, the Movement Grants Manager is responsible for asking Movement Grants committee members to review the list of applications and disclose any COIs before grant reviews start. Once tentative grant decisions are made, the Movement Grants Manager is responsible for sharing a draft list of successful grantees and asking all ACE team members about potential COIs.

This table lists different possible affiliations between ACE team members and grant applicants. For each type of affiliation, we indicate whether it is allowed and whether any actions need to be taken.

Staff members on the Movement Grants committee

Several ACE team members are involved in the Movement Grants grantee selection process under the leadership of the Movement Grants Manager. In this document, we refer to the ACE team members involved in reviewing applications and making final decisions as the “Movement Grants committee.”⁵ All ACE team members are invited to give feedback on the decisions of the Movement Grants committee but committee members are responsible for making the final decisions.

Committee members must disclose any level of COI they have with a Movement Grants applicant to the Movement Grants Manager or Programs Director before their involvement in the Movement Grants process. The committee members’ conflicts with grantees must be listed in the blog posts announcing the grants.

If a committee member has a serious COI with an applicant (examples included in the Charity Evaluation Policy above) they must notify the rest of the committee and recuse themself completely from oral and written discussions about the applicant. Individuals with serious COIs cannot participate in any parts of the relevant applicant’s review.

If the committee member with a serious COI has information that they believe is useful and relevant to the committee’s decision they may provide this information to the Movement Grants Manager or the Programs Director. They should not share information with the rest of the committee without first clearing this action with the Movement Grants Manager or Programs Director.

If the committee member has a COI that isn’t definitively classed as a serious COI the Movement Grants Manager will decide whether and how they should be involved in the discussions and processes related to that applicant.

If the conflicted committee member is either the Movement Grants Manager or Programs Director, the other of these two should be involved in deciding how serious the COI is and how to handle the situation. If both the Movement Grants Manager and the Programs Director have the same COI, a committee member they appoint will decide how to handle the COI. The party with the COI must abide by the decision reached.

Disclosure

Should a COI such as those listed above (or others) arise or be discovered, a board member must disclose it to the Chair of the Board and a staff member must disclose it to the Movement Grants Manager or their supporter (see ACE’s organization chart),

1. before engaging in any duties concerning any matter involving the conflict;
2. as soon as possible after the board or staff member learns of the conflict; and
3. on the conflict of interest disclosure form required by ACE.

When an ACE team member who is not on the Movement Grants committee has an affiliation with one of the tentatively proposed grantees, they must refrain from commenting about that proposed grantee and notify the Movement Grants Manager or their supporter of their potential COI, who will share that information with the committee.

All ACE team members—not only those of the granting committees—aware of potential COI(s) involving another team member (e.g., those described in the Movement Grants Committee Policy) are encouraged to bring their concerns directly to the Movement Grants Manager or the Programs Director, for potential COIs involving someone on the Movement Grants committee.

ACE team members aware of potential COI(s) due to another team member’s affiliation with a grant applicant are encouraged to bring their concerns directly to the Movement Grants Manager or their supporter, rather than the party with the COI. The identity of the individual who brought up their concerns should not be disclosed to the party with the COI without prior consent.

ACE team members’ affiliations with grantees must be listed in the public announcement of the grants while specifying whether or not they were involved in the grant decisions.

Additionally, if ACE is collaborating on a project with a charity currently being considered for a grant, we will disclose that relationship in the grant announcement. ACE will consider the propriety of such a relationship and avoid giving grants that benefit ACE through the charity’s work, directly or indirectly.

Affiliations with External Experts

In the course of ACE’s research, charity evaluations, and Movement Grants application reviews, ACE staff members engage with external experts. ACE team members’ affiliations with external experts must be listed in the public charity reviews, charity recommendations announcements, and grant announcements. When using expert advice to inform ACE’s worldview, charity evaluations or grant decisions, ACE team members must endeavor to seek out other experts with which they don’t have an affiliation.

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MOVEMENT GRANTS DISBURSEMENT POLICY

ACE makes every effort, while complying with our legal obligations, to ensure that the full amount of each Movement Grant is made available for use by the recipient organization:

• When sending money, ACE will cover standard payment transfer fees.
• On rare occasions, ACE may, at our discretion, modify the text of the disbursement agreement provided to grantees or the type of disbursement sent to avoid fees or penalties that would reduce the amount of funding available to the recipient.

To receive funds, the recipient organization must provide all information requested by ACE, including but not limited to:

• A signed copy of the grant agreement
• Organization legal name, address, and contact information
• Due diligence information
  • The information required will vary depending on whether the organization is a registered charity, is based in the U.S., requires a fiscal sponsor, and undertakes lobbying work. The information required is subject to change according to ACE’s requirements to undertake due diligence on our grantees to fulfill our legal obligations.
• Bank account and routing information

All Movement Grant disbursements must be completed by the end of the fiscal year (March 31) in which the grant was awarded. ACE will contact each recipient organization at least three times to attempt to collect all necessary information for grant disbursement. If the organization fails to provide all required information by the end of the fiscal year, its grant funds will be returned to the Movement Grant pool for the following fiscal year. The recipient organization may reapply during a future Movement Grants round.

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Social Media Policies

Thank you for your interest in participating in Animal Charity Evaluators’ social media page. The purpose of these pages is to create a place where our followers can share their thoughts, opinions, and insights on Animal Charity Evaluators, and on topics relevant to our mission.

By using or accessing our social media pages, you agree to comply with Facebook’s Terms and Conditions, and Twitter’s Terms of Service. As we welcome input from anyone, please note that postings by fans on our social media pages do not necessarily reflect the views of Animal Charity Evaluators, nor do we confirm their accuracy.

We understand that animal advocacy is a subject many of you are passionate about – a passion we share. We welcome all questions and commentary, including constructive feedback. We don’t take decisions on moderating posts lightly, but we do expect that participants post content and commentary that is both relevant and respectful to this community as a whole. Animal Charity Evaluators reserves the right to remove any posts that don’t adhere to our guidelines and to block anyone who violates them repeatedly. Specifically, we do not tolerate these kinds of posts:

• Abusive, harassing, stalking, threatening or attacking others
• Defamatory, offensive, obscene, vulgar or depicting violence
• Hateful in language targeting race/ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality or political beliefs
• Fraudulent, deceptive, misleading or unlawful
• Trolling or deliberate disruption of discussion
• Violations of any intellectual property rights
• Spamming in nature
• Uploading files that contain viruses or programs that could damage the operation of other people’s computers
• Commercial solicitation or solicitation of donations
• Link baiting (embedding a link in your post to draw traffic to your own site)

Thank you for participating in helping us create a respectful environment for our followers. If you have any questions, please email us at contact@animalcharityevaluators.org.

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Respect in the Workplace Policy

We make our internal “Respect in the Workplace” Policy available online as a resource for other organizations.

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Code of Conduct

Our Code of Conduct applies to all ACE employees, interns, select contractors, and board members.

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1. In this Gift Acceptance Policy, “gifts” are distinct from “personal gifts” noted in the Employment/Affiliation COI policy and include donations of financial and non-financial gifts intended to help ACE carry out or expand our work. 

2. Although the formality of a position will be determined on a case-by-case basis, we generally consider a position to be formal if it is both ongoing (i.e., not volunteering for a one-day event) and one where the team member would feel obligated to notify the organization in advance if they planned to leave the position. 

3. We generally consider a position to be informal if it is situational and arises due to one-off circumstances or transactions (e.g., a one-time volunteer opportunity)  

4. This does not include gifts given in different non-work contexts where ACE team members might be friends with others in the animal advocacy movement outside of work and receive gifts from them in the context of that friendship (e.g., wedding or birthday gifts). However, in cases of close friendship, a COI should be declared. 

5. By default, the staff members who review and discuss the applications also make final decisions, but these two groups may differ due to staff changes during the process.