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.
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...
I spoke with host Tony Martignetti on his Nonprofit Radio podcast about a quick legal audit executives or boards can perform on their organizations. This follows a recent post we published on the One Hour Nonprofit Legal Audit. But on the program, we were able to discuss each of these elements in...
Following up on our post on the recently published Leading With Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Board Practices, we explore some of the findings highlighted in BoardSource’s companion report Leading with Intent: Reviewing the State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on Nonprofit Boards. Key Findings Boards may be getting slightly...
Last week, BoardSource published its highly anticipated governance report Leading With Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Board Practices. This report highlights the results of BoardSource’s latest biennial study on nonprofit governance structures, practices, and performance. Key Findings Boards are disconnected from the communities and people they serve. Almost half (49%)...