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.
If we accept as given that a nonprofit has a mission that resonates with you, what makes a board one you would want to join? Likely, the principal reasons are your existing relationships to the organization and its leadership. But for organizations seeking board members, the following list of...
BoardSource recently launched its survey in connection with the updated Leading with Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Board Practices for 2023. Who serves on today’s nonprofit boards? What matters most when it comes to the board’s roles and responsibilities? What impact are they having on organizational performance? How do...
Last week, we saw the series finales of two popular television shows that are now part of the zeitgeist: Ted Lasso and Succession. While we can enjoy both of these series as pure entertainment, I found it interesting to reflect back on them for what they may say about...
As a board member (director) of a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, you have certain rights of inspection that allow you to access and review the corporation’s books, records, documents, and physical properties. Section 6334 of the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law and Section 8334 of the Nonprofit Mutual...
It’s easy to find a copy of nonprofit bylaws on the Internet. Fine tune it a little bit – like by changing the desired number of directors and the number of meetings – and it can seem like you’re good to go. But just in case the bylaws you...
A board member of a charitable nonprofit organization may find themselves in an awkward position where the board is voting on a matter in which the board member has a conflict of interest. Perhaps the matter has to do with contracting the board member or their company, paying the...
This post follows up on our previously published post Nonprofit Law 101 for Journalists and is intended to provide additional information to journalists and news organizations about federal tax laws applicable to 501(c)(3) organizations and common state corporate and charitable trust laws applicable to charitable nonprofits. The brief answers...
A nonprofit corporation’s board composition is a critical part of its governance. And many nonprofits devote substantial resources (including time) to development of a skills and background matrix, recruitment, and orientation. But a great many nonprofits do not. Too often, board members are simply asked to think of good...
The following are some of the highlights from the 2022 Western Conference on Tax Exempt Organizations (WCTEO). After a two-year hiatus from in-person meetings, It was great seeing and speaking with new and old friends and colleagues practicing, teaching, and writing in the area of nonprofit and exempt organizations...
The ALI Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit Organizations (the “Restatement”) provides: “A fiduciary of a charity has a duty to: … ct in good faith and in a manner the fiduciary believes to be in the best interests of the charity in light of its purposes ….” The...