Introducing Researcher Isabel de Bruin-Cardoso: Why Philanthropic Organisations Need Ethical Reflection

What is the main focus of your research, and why does it matter for philanthropic organizations?

My research focuses on ethics in organizations that are commonly perceived as ‘good’. What I found — and have witnessed firsthand working with various types of nonprofits — is that this perception breeds an assumption: that ethics is somehow baked into the DNA of such organizations. And that matters, because once you assume ethics is already there, ethics management quietly becomes an afterthought. That gap is precisely where the risk of misconduct creeps in.

Why did you decide to join Giving Insights Exchange?

What drew me in is that this is a space where funders and practitioners exchange what works and what doesn’t, rather than each organization quietly figuring it out alone. I see my role here as bringing the uncomfortable questions into that exchange, the ones we tend to avoid precisely because we assume good people in good organizations don’t need to ask them.

What is one common misconception about ethics and integrity in philanthropic organisations that your research challenges?

The most common one is that doing good and being ethical are the same thing. I found that the strength of an organization’s mission often becomes the very reason ethics gets treated as already handled, as if good intentions automatically produce good conduct. They don’t. A clear purpose can actually make people less alert to misconduct, not more, because nobody expects to find it in a place built on helping others. What my research challenges is that comfortable equation: the work being good says nothing, on its own, about how people inside are treated or how decisions are made.

What ethical tension do philanthropic organizations struggle with most in practice?

In practice, the hardest tension is between the good an organization does on the outside and how it conducts itself on the inside. The mission is so compelling that it can quietly excuse things that would never be tolerated elsewhere, demanding too much of staff, avoiding hard conversations, tolerating a difficult leader because the cause is worth it. I’ve seen how naming an ethical problem in such a setting can feel almost like a betrayal of the mission itself, which is exactly what makes it so hard to raise. So the tension isn’t really good versus bad; it’s the belief in the cause sitting uneasily against the discipline of looking honestly at yourself. Holding both at once is where these organizations struggle most.

From your research perspective, what is the unique societal value philanthropic organizations can create?

Beyond the specific causes they serve, philanthropic organizations can model what it looks like to take ethics seriously rather than assume it. Society doesn’t only need good outcomes; it needs institutions that can be trusted to pursue those outcomes in a defensible way. When these organizations treat ethics as something to actively work at, they demonstrate a kind of integrity that other sectors are increasingly hungry for. That, to me, is their distinctive contribution: not just the good they do, but showing that being trustworthy is something you build deliberately, not something you inherit by being on the right side of a cause.

What is one thing you would like philanthropic organizations to rethink or do differently?

I’d like them to stop treating ethics as a settled question and start treating it as ongoing work. A useful place to begin is by asking, “What are we not allowing ourselves to see because we believe we’re the good guys?” It’s a simple question, but it cuts straight at idealization, the tendency to assume our own integrity rather than examine it. Most boards ask whether they are compliant or whether they are effective, but they should also build in  regular moments of honest reflection, asking where the organization might be idealizing itself, and where the blind spots lie. This is partly why I’ve been turning my framework into a practical tool. Ethics shouldn’t only surface as an accusation during a crisis; it should become part of governance and daily practice. If I could change one thing, it would to make ethical reflection ordinary, a normal part of how a good organization keeps itself good.