Ethics Scenario #36: Tyne Foundation

36. Perry is a development associate for the Tyne Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to support development in third world countries. Perry has been a development officer for more than 30 years, and many of his friends are those he has met as colleagues in the field. At gatherings such as meetings of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and other conferences, he often has gathered with his colleagues to share stories about the fundraising craft, some from personal experience, some second-hand, some perhaps apocryphal, but almost always interesting. For the past 20 years, he has been writing these stories down, and has several loose-leaf notebooks filled with handwritten notes. More than half of these stories are taken from his own personal experience as a fundraiser for Tyne, and he would be the first to admit that when they become public knowledge, Tyne would find the disclosure of some of the material embarrassing, even if the statute of limitations has run out on anything that might have been criminal. He is about ready to retire, so he doesn’t worry too much about how Tyne’s senior management might react. And being an author has always been a lifetime dream of his. Today, he decides to start the ball rolling by asking his secretary at Tyne to start typing up his notes after swearing her to secrecy about the content, and announces to his wife that he plans to submit a letter to his boss announcing his retirement plans later this week.

a. Is Perry being ethical?