Q: What do you do?

A: The Institute for Global Ethics works with individuals and organizations of every kind, providing publications, speakers, training, and other assistance in making ethics an integral part of daily life.

We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and nonsectarian organization headquartered in Camden, Maine, with affiliates in New York, London, and Vancouver. Staffed by roughly 20 people and supported by 1,400 members, we offer services around the world.

Our mission: to promote ethical behavior in individuals, institutions, and nations through research, public discourse, and practical action. Our goal: a world where core moral values shape every relationship, determine every decision, and guide every action.

Q: How did you get started?

A: The Institute began in 1990 as a small, one-room office in the coastal town of Camden, Maine, where founder and president Rushworth Kidder was living with his wife and two daughters. At the time, we had one-and-a-half employees and were funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and a private donor. At the time, we were certain of two things: There was a growing public yearning for ethical clarity, and there were frameworks of thought that could help resolve ethical dilemmas. How to connect the two — how to build a language of public discourse that frames tough issues in moral terms without turning off listeners — was still be to sorted out.

We began this process by researching a single overarching question: Is there a core of shared, moral values? Is there some undergirding framework so common to humanity that you don't have to impose it, but instead can find it? Today, we know the answer: There is indeed. The Institute's research has made it apparent that, wherever you go in the world and ask, What are the most important moral values for you and your future? you're apt to hear the same five answers: compassion, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility.

Q: What do you mean by "ethics"?

A: We use the term loosely, but generally explain it as the study of what is good and/or what is right.

After more than a decade of doing research across the globe, we have discovered that while different people use different words to voice their values, the concepts nearly always can be distilled into a set of five or six shared values with a common subset: compassion, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility.

Q: What is your position on . . . ?

A: As a nonpartisan organization, the Institute for Global Ethics deliberately does not take positions on political candidates, hot-button issues, and controversies of the moment. Instead, we focus our energies on helping people reason through the issues themselves, providing tools and frameworks to help parse the political, social, and moral debates under way.

Our goal is not to tell people what to think, but to offer tools that help them with how to think through tough ethical issues.

Q: Where does your funding come from?

A: The Institute relies on two main sources for its funding: training tools offered to the public, and financial support from more than 1,400 donors and other outside sources.

Our products include hardcover books and education curricula, DVDs and CD-ROM training courses, as well as fee-for-service speaking engagements and workshops like the Ethical Fitness® Seminar. We also draw substantial financial support from a wide range of outside sources: private citizens, major foundations, corporate sponsors, and others wanting to support increased awareness of ethics.

Q: I'm interested in having Rushworth Kidder speak at my upcoming event. Who can I talk to about this?

A: Dr. Kidder is represented exclusively by the Washington Speakers Bureau. Please contact them directly by phone at , or visit their website [linkto: http://www.washspkrs.com] to discuss Dr. Kidder's availability and fees.

Q: Dr. Kidder's speaking fee is higher than my organization's budget can afford. Do you offer discounts?

A: As president of this nonprofit organization, Dr. Kidder is committed to raising the revenue necessary for IGE to successfully complete its mission. Because of this, and because Dr. Kidder's time is in such demand, we have found that we have to keep his speaking fees at a certain level - which unfortunately means that we are not able to offer discounts.

We do, however, have several others on staff who can deliver keynote addresses and workshops to your school, business, association, community, or other type of organization at a rate usually much lower than that of Dr. Kidder. Please call us at (in the US) to discuss this further.