Our second post with resources to be referenced in our session at the 2013 Alliance for Community Media National Conference, Nuts and Bolts of Nonprofits and Their People, with Syvia Strobel (ACM) and Deborah Vinsel(Thurston Community Television). Key Issues in Board Governance Board's Legal Duties: Are Your Directors Meeting Them? Boards...
BOARDS / GOVERNANCE
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.
Changing a Nonprofit’s Mission
A nonprofit’s mission describes the purpose and reason for being of the organization. Although a mission statement should always be consistent with the nonprofit’s “specific purpose statement” described in the Articles of Incorporation, the mission statement is generally crafted with an eye to the public. A well-conceived...
ADRP Keynote: What You Can Learn From Recent Nonprofit Scandals
Everyone loves a good scandal. That's why they fill our newspapers, television programs, and popular websites. But scandals in the nonprofit sector result in diminished or discontinued services, laid off employees, penalties imposed on responsible persons, publicly embarassed board members, and the death of organizations. They also result in a...
Starting a Nonprofit: 10 Considerations in Electing the Initial Board
The board is ultimately in control of the nonprofit corporation and responsible for its actions. So, you want to be careful in determining the composition of your charitable nonprofit's initial board. Here are 10 considerations: The prospective board members should be aware and and prepared to accept the...
10 Issues to Address in Your Nonprofit’s Social Media Policy
Copyright and trademark infringement. Tip: understand the fair use doctrine. Trap: expecting attribution to offer protection against charges of infringement. Fundraising and foreign state registration requirements. Tip: check out The Unified Registration Statement. Trap: disregarding registration laws and their application to funds raised through social media (see the Charleston Principles). Events...
Screwtape’s 10 Tips for Building a Better Board
Limit the board to family and friends, people who will support whatever you want to do. If you add more board members, make sure they have a high net worth. Allocate minimal resources to recruiting; just have existing board members ask their rich friends. Don't worry about diversity;...
Private Benefit Rules – Part III: Excess Benefit Transactions
The final private benefit rule discussed in this series is the excess benefit transaction rules, codified in section 4958 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), which are a similar but distinct set of rules from the private inurement doctrine discussed in Part II. Similar to the private inurement doctrine,...
Private Benefit Rules – Part II: Private Inurement Doctrine
The private inurement doctrine is another private benefit rule applicable to public charities. The doctrine comes directly from the language of section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code that only organizations “no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual”...
Private Benefit Rules – Part I: Private Benefit Doctrine
The conferment of private benefits by 501(c)(3) organizations is governed by a set of federal tax laws that are commonly not well understood.Most nonprofit leaders know to be wary of any organizational transaction, arrangement, practice, or policy that may potentially or actually serve private rather than public interests. However,...
Screwtape’s 10 Pieces of Advice to New Board Members
Be fashionably late to meetings. Don’t show up too often so the board recognizes it’s special when you do. Start preparing for a meeting just before you go in so the materials are all fresh on your mind. Dominate the discussion; to sound smart, use buzz phrases like “we’ve...