By NEO Law Group
An engaged board can be one of the most important organizational assets of a nonprofit. But nonprofit boards are often underutilized and are not always effective in significantly advancing an organization’s mission. Educating boards and executives about their legal duties, practical steps to take to effectively meet those duties, and best practices in mitigating exposure to organizational and personal liability/harm is key to establishing board engagement and effectiveness.
Charitable nonprofits organizations (“charities”) are subject to state prudent investment laws as we have previously written about here. The most important of these laws is the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) applicable in 49 states (all except Pennsylvania) and DC. UPMIFA and Management and Investment Factors...
I’ve been writing and speaking on the responsibilities of virtually all nonprofits and their leaders to consider climate change (and pollution) in planning and decision-making. See, for example, What’s Your Nonprofit Doing to Fight Climate Change? Expectedly, I’ve received some push back from attorneys and others about the requirement...
The question of a nonprofit’s future needs and impact raises a couple of related concepts: intergenerational equity and longtermism. Of course, all planning involves thinking about the future – whether it be in designing programs, fundraising, marketing, budgeting, investing, advocating, collaborating, or engaging in myriad things that are necessary...
Nonprofits exist to advance their mission. That seems simple enough. As does the corresponding statement: the mission is the reason for a nonprofit’s existence. The public expression of the mission is typically a short, pithy phrase that is part of the leadership’s elevator pitch. Below are a few examples...
The State Bar of Texas is holding its 22nd Annual Course: Governance of Nonprofit Organizations on August 15-16 in Austin. There will also be a webinar replay of the Course on September 12-13. MCLE: 12.5 hours. The agenda includes the following sessions: Government-affiliated Nonprofits, The Universe of 501 Organizations,...
Governance and climate change. More attention is being given to the interplay of these seemingly unrelated issues, including at the upcoming 2024 Stanford Social Innovation Review Nonprofit Management Institute – What’s Next for the Social Sector? This year’s conference, taking place on September 17-18, is organized as a hybrid, allowing...
I recently spoke with Tony Martignetti, host of Nonprofit Radio, about the OpenAI nonprofit-for-profit joint venture drama making headlines and some lessons to be learned about nonprofit collaborations heavily influenced by money. You can join the 13,000 weekly listeners and catch the Nonprofit Radio podcast here. As general background, you...
This post continues the story from Part One and is inspired by some of the drama involving OpenAI. In Part One, the board of a nonprofit that also served as the manager of a joint venture (JV) with several investors was dealing with a dilemma. On one hand they...
Imagine a charitable nonprofit whose mission is to educate people on the dangers of vaping. The board members, including the founder, want to advance the mission by producing and distributing a documentary film. An individual who recently lost their child to throat cancer wants to donate $2 million to...
One of the outstanding presentations at the 2023 NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference focused on Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (“PDBL”), a governance framework that I think has groundbreaking potential. Dani Robbins, BoardSource’s Director of Strategic Governance, delivered the presentation which provided attendees, including many state charity regulators with much food for thought....