55. Ariel is the Executive Director of the Harristown Social Services Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt organization. She is faced with making very unpopular budget cuts, because in her view, her board is resisting raising the fees it charges to clients. Ariel knows that there are some areas of the budget that could be cut without sacrificing client services, both quality and quantity. Yet she feels that if she cuts some of the “fat,” such as staff conferences, the annual staff parties, the staff retreat, training, and health care benefits, employee morale would likely suffer. So, she realigns the budget. She leaves those areas intact and instead focuses on cutting programs she knows her board strongly supports, expecting that they will come to their senses, restore these programs to reasonable budget levels, and finance this by raising client fees, only rational option.
a. Is Ariel’s behavior ethical?