Who's Accountable? The Epstein Reckoning and the Future of Ethical Fundraising

​Nearly every institution named in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Harvard, MIT, and others, had sophisticated, well-resourced development operations whose explicit mandate was to prevent exactly what happened. So why haven't we asked the fundraisers?

​In her recent op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Pradnya Haldipur argues that the persistent invisibility of development leadership in the Epstein reckoning sends a dangerous message: that fundraising is merely administrative and that when things go wrong, someone else answers for it.

​This conversation pushes back on that narrative.

​Join us for a candid, practitioner-led discussion on institutional accountability, donor due diligence, and what ethical leadership in the advancement profession actually demands, from people who have lived it at the highest levels.

​What we'll explore:

• ​Why development leaders must be held to the same standard of accountability as faculty and executive leadership

• ​How gift acceptance policies and compliance systems failed, and what real reform looks like

• ​What Mount Sinai got right in 2019, and why it should be the floor, not the ceiling

• ​How institutions can transform a moment of reckoning into something reparative

• ​What technology and data can and cannot solve when culture and accountability are missing

​This conversation is for nonprofit executives, fundraising professionals, board members, and leaders who believe that ethical standards in philanthropy are not aspirational.