Plain-language summary: If something looks wrong, tell us. You are protected for telling us, even if you turn out to be mistaken. You can do it anonymously. You can also go straight to a government agency instead, and you do not need our permission. We will get back to you within five business days.
This page has two jobs. It explains how to raise a concern, in plain language. It also states the protections and procedures we are legally committed to. Both matter. Skim the parts you need.
Table of Contents
- Purpose
- Who This Policy Covers
- What to Report
- This Policy and the Covenant
- No Retaliation
- How to Report
- Your Right to Report Outside Stimpunks
- What Happens Next
- Reporting in Good Faith
- Confidentiality
- Investigating a Concern
- Keeping This Policy Known
- Review of This Policy
Purpose
Stimpunks Foundation is committed to open and honest communication about our governance, our finances, and our compliance with the law.
We ask everyone who works with us — directors, staff, contractors, volunteers — to hold high standards of ethics and honesty, and to keep the promises we make each other in our Covenant. And we ask everyone, including the communities we serve, to tell us when we fall short of them.
This policy exists so that raising a concern is safe, and so that a concern raised actually goes somewhere.
Who This Policy Covers
If you are a director, officer, member of staff, contractor, or volunteer, you have an obligation to report questionable accounting, financial, or auditing matters, and any violation or suspected violation of our policies or any unlawful or improper conduct. This is not optional. Staying quiet about something you reasonably suspect is itself a problem.
If you are a community member, a grant applicant, a partner, or anyone else, you are invited to raise a concern too. You have no obligation, and the protections below still apply to you.
Throughout this page, we call anything reported under this policy a Concern.
What to Report
Report anything you reasonably believe is unlawful or improper. That includes, but is not limited to:
Money, records, and assets
- Theft
- Financial reporting that is fraudulent, intentionally misleading, or negligent
- Improper or undocumented financial transactions
- Forgery or alteration of documents
- Unauthorized alteration or manipulation of computer files
- Improper destruction of records
- Improper use of Foundation assets — funds, supplies, intellectual property, anything else
- Improper access to, or use of, confidential donor information
- Authorizing or receiving payment for goods not received or services not performed
- Noncompliance with our internal accounting controls
- Any other improper occurrence involving cash, financial procedures, or reporting
People
- Abuse of, or discrimination against, anyone connected to Stimpunks — an employee, a community member, a grant applicant, a vendor, a partner — including harassment and employment discrimination
- Violations of our Conflict of Interest Policy
- Serious violations of our Covenant, which is our code of conduct
Our own obligations
- A failure by Stimpunks Foundation to provide reasonable accommodation for disability or religious belief
That last one is deliberate, and it is not boilerplate. We are a Disabled and Neurodivergent organization. If we fail at access — the thing we exist to do — that is a reportable Concern, and you are protected for reporting it. Report it against us the same as you would report anything else.
This Policy and the Covenant
Our Covenant is our code of conduct. It names how we agree to show up for each other, and it carries its own path for prosocial decision making and conflict resolution.
Most friction belongs there, not here. A disagreement, a misunderstanding, a moment someone landed badly — those are ordinary parts of being in community together, and the Covenant is built to hold them.
This policy is for the other thing: misconduct, dishonesty, discrimination, abuse, a legal or financial problem, a danger to someone, or a pattern that conflict resolution has not been able to stop. If you are unsure which one you are looking at, use this policy. We would rather redirect a Concern to the Covenant than have you sit on something serious because you could not tell which door to use.
No Retaliation
No one who raises a Concern in good faith will be retaliated against. Not disciplined. Not demoted. Not fired. Not given punitive assignments. Not cut in pay. Not threatened. Not frozen out.
This protection holds even if you turn out to be wrong. A reasonable belief or suspicion that something improper has happened is enough to make you protected. You do not have to be right, and you do not have to prove your case before you speak.
It holds whether you report to us or to a government agency. Going outside Stimpunks costs you none of the protection in this section — see Your Right to Report Outside Stimpunks.
Retaliating against someone who reported a Concern is itself a violation of this policy, and can result in discipline up to and including dismissal from a volunteer role or termination of employment.
If you believe you have been retaliated against, report that the same way you would report anything else — see How to Report. We will investigate it promptly and take corrective measures if it is substantiated.
This protection does not stop managers from doing ordinary, good-faith supervision based on real performance. It does stop supervision from being used as a cover for payback.
How to Report
You can report a Concern in writing or out loud, and with your name or anonymously.
If you are staff or a contractor: start with the Executive Director. If you would rather not, or if the Concern is about the Executive Director, go straight to the President.
If you are a director or volunteer: report in writing to the President. If the Concern is about the President, report to any other member of the Board.
If you are a community member or anyone else: email stimpunks@stimpunks.org, or contact any board member directly. Our board is listed on Board & Governance.
If you told someone and nothing happened: whoever receives a Concern must pass it on promptly. If they do not, take it directly to the President.
If you say it out loud rather than writing it: the person you tell will help you put it in writing, and you get to check that what they wrote down is what you meant. Nobody has to produce a polished written complaint on their own to be taken seriously.
If you want to be anonymous: submit your Concern in writing without identifying yourself. Note that ordinary email carries your address — if anonymity matters to you, use a method that does not identify you.
You never have to route a Concern through the person it is about.
Your Right to Report Outside Stimpunks
We would rather hear about a problem first, because we cannot fix what we do not know about. But you are never required to come to us first, and you never need our permission to go elsewhere.
No internal approval is needed. You do not need the President, the Executive Director, the Board, or anyone else at Stimpunks to authorize a report to a government agency. You do not have to tell us you made one.
Where you can go. Nothing in this policy restricts you from contacting, filing with, or giving information to:
- The Internal Revenue Service — for tax fraud, misuse of charitable assets, or anything touching our tax-exempt status
- A state Attorney General. State attorneys general oversee charities: ours are Delaware, where we are incorporated, and Texas, where we are based
- Law enforcement — federal, state, or local
- Labor and civil rights agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, and OSHA, which runs the federal whistleblower complaint program
- Any other regulator with authority over our work
Nothing we ask you to sign can take this away. No confidentiality agreement, contract, internal policy, or settlement with Stimpunks limits your right to communicate with law enforcement or a regulator about unlawful conduct. If a document we have given you appears to say otherwise, this section governs and that document is wrong on this point.
Retaliating against you for an external report is prohibited too — by this policy, and by federal law. Under 18 U.S.C. §1513(e), knowingly taking harmful action against someone for giving truthful information to a law enforcement officer about a possible federal offense is a crime. That statute applies to nonprofits, including this one.
We would rather you tell us. We would much rather you tell someone than nobody.
What Happens Next
- The Board of Directors addresses all Concerns. Whoever receives one notifies the Board promptly.
- We acknowledge receipt within five business days where possible.
- We investigate promptly.
- Where the investigation warrants it, corrective action is recommended to the Board.
- We follow up with you. Every Concern gets a conclusion, and the person who raised it hears what it was.
If you reported anonymously, we cannot acknowledge receipt or follow up with you directly — that is the trade-off anonymity carries. You can still check on it by asking about the Concern through the same channel you used.
Reporting in Good Faith
Report anything you reasonably believe is improper. That is the whole standard. You do not need proof, certainty, or a complete picture.
Being wrong is not bad faith. A Concern that turns out to be unfounded is a normal outcome of a system working — people notice things, ask about them, and sometimes the answer is that it was fine. You stay protected.
What this policy does not protect is knowingly making things up: allegations made maliciously, recklessly, or knowing they are false. That is treated as a serious matter, and someone who does it may face discipline or legal claims from the person they accused.
We are naming this distinction plainly because the difference matters and because vagueness here does real harm. Many of the people in our communities have been disbelieved, dismissed, or punished for speaking up before. Uncertainty is not a reason to stay quiet. Tell us what you noticed, say how sure you are, and let us look into it.
Confidentiality
We handle every Concern with sensitivity and discretion, and share it only with people who need to know in order to investigate properly.
We will be honest about the limit: we protect confidentiality to the extent the circumstances and the law allow. If disciplinary or legal action follows, the person facing it may have a right to know who raised the Concern. We would rather tell you that up front than promise you something we cannot guarantee.
If confidentiality is critical to you, say so when you report, and consider reporting anonymously.
Investigating a Concern
The Board of Directors, or a committee it appoints, investigates. The Board may retain outside legal counsel, accountants, investigators, or any other resource it needs to investigate fully.
Nobody investigates a Concern about themselves. A director, officer, or staff member who is the subject of a Concern takes no part in investigating it, deciding it, or voting on it — the same recusal rule our Conflict of Interest Policy applies to transactions.
Keeping This Policy Known
A protection nobody knows about protects nobody. So:
- This policy is published here, publicly, where anyone can find it.
- New staff, contractors, and board members are pointed to it as part of onboarding.
- It is available to anyone who asks.
- Contact routing is reviewed each year, after the annual election of officers, and the current version is sent to staff and the Board.
Review of This Policy
This policy is reviewed at least annually by the Board of Directors and updated as Stimpunks Foundation evolves.
Accountability is part of care.
Document ID: SF-GOV-WB-2.1
Status: Revised — pending adoption by the Board of Directors
Supersedes: Whistleblower & Concern Reporting Policy, published 15 February 2026, and incorporates the Stimpunks Foundation Whistleblower Policy adopted at formation (2022)
Related: Covenant · Conflict of Interest Policy · Board & Governance · Accountability & Transparency · Required Disclosures