California Nonprofit Law: The Self-Dealing Prohibition

Section 5233 of the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law defines and prohibits self-dealing transactions. A self-dealing transaction is defined as “a transaction to which the corporation is a party and in which one or more of its directors has a material financial interest and which does not meet the requirements of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of […]

Nonprofit Tweets of the Week – 1/27/17

The past week was marked by the extraordinarily powerful Women’s March in Washington DC and throughout the world and the question of what happens next from the new administration and those who are passionately opposed to many of its policies. Have a listen to the flashmob’s I Can’t Keep Quiet while perusing our curated nonprofit tweets of […]

Two Lawline CLE Programs for Attorneys Helping California Nonprofits

We are presenting two Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs for Lawline on Friday, January 13, 2016 that we hope California attorneys will find helpful in their representation of nonprofits:  Forming a California Nonprofit (Erin) This program will discuss the process of forming a California nonprofit entity, going through the legal considerations involved in each step in […]

Lorman Webinar: Complexities of Starting a Nonprofit in California

Erin is presenting a live webinar titled, Complexities of Starting a Nonprofit in California, for Lorman on October 13 at 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. PST. Here is the description of the program: This topic will cover the process of forming a California nonprofit entity, going through the legal considerations involved in each step in detail. We will also cover […]

2016 ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting

The American Bar Association (ABA) Business Law Section is holding its 2016 Annual Meeting in Boston on September 8-10. I’m looking forward to meeting with my colleagues in the Nonprofit Organizations Committee, attending the various programs, and expressing my appreciation as one of the recipients of the Committee’s Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Awards. Accelerators and Incubators The first […]

Nonprofit Radio: New Overtime Rules – Temporarily Stopped (11/22/16 update)

I’ll be on Nonprofit Radio this Friday at 10:30 am PT / 1:30 pm ET discussing the new overtime rules and their impact on nonprofits with host Tony Martignetti. Catch us live on Talking Alternative or a few days later on iTunes. The Department of Labor’s final overtime rule updates the salary level required for the executive, administrative, […]

How to Start a 501(c)(4) California Nonprofit Step by Step

You’ve got an idea for making the world a better place, and you want to start a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization as the means to do so. In contrast to a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, a 501(c)(4) organization may engage in unlimited lobbying in furtherance of its social welfare purpose and some political campaign intervention […]

Proposal for a New (and Risky) Way to Substantiate Charitable Contributions

UPDATE 1/7/16:  The proposed regulations have wisely been withdrawn. The Treasury Department and IRS are soliciting comments through December 16 regarding the recently proposed rule that would provide donors with another way to substantiate their contributions of $250 or more but at the cost of imposing significant new risks on charities and donors. The new way to substantiate […]