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.
Nonprofit leadership is old. Literally. In age and in thinking. And the world is changing faster than these leaders can respond or get ahead of in part because they lack diverse perspectives and aren’t prioritizing the engagement of younger generations. When I suggested the engagement of younger persons (my...
On July 28, 2022, the Nonprofit Quarterly presented an intriguing and highly insightful webinar, Changing the Subject: Boards As Social Movement Spaces. It featured Dr. Carmen Rojas, President and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Makiyah Moody, Founder and President of Kairos & Heart LLC, and Jenifer Gager Holland,...
Multiple Vehicles for Individual Philanthropy Anyone can dream … but I’m not convinced this is necessarily a dream scenario. Aspiring to be a billionaire appears to come with difficult concessions, serious risks, and major changes to relationships and activities. But at first blush, it sounds cool to be able...
In 2021, Anne Wallestad, the widely respected former CEO of BoardSource, wrote one of the most important articles on nonprofit governance I’ve ever read, The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (Stanford Social Innovation Review). We’ve previously written about the article’s proposed governance model here and here. The article emphasized that...
Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit Organizations is a treatise on the law of charities published by the American Law Institute. Restatements are highly respected secondary sources relied upon by lawyers, academics, judges, and others as persuasive, but not binding, authority. This Restatement, published in 2021, is the first one...
Congratulations on your first year as a nonprofit corporation exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code! Your first anniversary is a notable milestone and a chance to take a quick look back as it relates to moving forward with impact and compliance. This post is written partly...
Many of us serve as volunteer board members of a charitable nonprofit organization. But some nonprofit board members get paid for their service. There are strong feelings about the propriety of compensating nonprofit board members that are worth exploring before arriving at any conclusions. The Law Federal tax laws...
Late last year, BoardSource published an important new book on nonprofit governance, Putting Purpose First: Nonprofit Board Leadership Today. The book incorporates the governance framework first introduced in the article The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership written by BoardSource CEO Anne Wallestad for the Stanford Social Innovation Review....
Nonprofits with environmental missions are actively working to educate the public, advocate for behavioral and policy changes, and create innovative solutions to address the climate change crisis. But despite their efforts, and those of millions of individual advocates, the outlook remains dire. Not enough is being done … even...
Indemnification in the context of nonprofit bylaws generally refers to how the nonprofit will protect its directors and other agents in the event they are sued for acting in their capacity as agents of the nonprofit. More specifically, indemnification is an assurance by the organization to make good an...