Category Archives: Governance

A Nonprofit News Roundup

roundupI’ve spent the better part of today catching up on my reading of blogs, email and newsletters and thought I would share some of the choice morsels I have found.

From the Ison Law Group’s blog comes an update on the Family Medical Leave Act regulations.  These updated regulations became effective January 16 and it is important that employers that fall under these regulations keep up with any changes that could affect them.

From the Nonprofit Leadership 601 blog comes a calendar of major conferences this year.  Heather also writes about an issue close to my heart, funders who ‘get’ nonprofits.  Her article lists a couple of funding organizations and how they look at funding the whole organization, not just programs.

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More Questions

Questions?Here are some answers to question I received at a recent training.  Many of the questions in this batch came from folks involved with religious organizations, synagogues and churches.

Why are religious organization tax exempt?

The best answer I have is the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Taxing a religious organization might interfere with the free exercise of religion.  For the IRS take on churches and religious organization exemptions please read this.

Is  a board member protected from legal action if it relies on outside advice?

If the board member is not paid and is acting in good faith they are most likely protected if they are involved in making what turn out to be bad decisions, even decisions that result in harm to the nonprofit.  More protection may be had in the organization Directors and Officers Liability insurance policies.  A great source of info on this topic is here, and for an organization that specializes in nonprofit insurances click here.

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Why We Need an Income Statement and a Balance Sheet

reportsOr alternatively, why we need a Statement of Activities and a Statement of Financial Position, to use nonprofit-financial speak.  I was asked this question at a recent training, as I have been asked many times over the years.  I have been asked why we can’t have just one statement to show everything, one statement to make things easier.  The two reports are not a deliberate effort to confuse us but an attempt to tell the financial story of an organization.

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