Issues Notes

Groups may get bylaw critique
at “This Year in Nonprofit Law”

Nonprofit Issues® editor Don Kramer and Montgomery, McCracken partner Catherine Gillespie will review the major issues in writing bylaws that work and provide a critique of bylaws submitted in advance by participants in one of the afternoon break-out sessions at the 19th annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law” program in Philadelphia on Thursday, December 3.

Organizations wanting comments on their bylaws and willing to share them with others attending the session should email a complete copy of their bylaws to info@nonprofitissues.com on or before November 23.  Kramer and Gillespie will use them to illustrate good, and perhaps bad, drafting.  Since bylaws are the Constitution of a nonprofit organization, it is critical that they be clear and unambiguous to provide direction to the organization in cases of dispute and to reduce the risks of litigation.  The session will help you understand how to avoid some of the pitfalls of bad drafting.  (See Ready Reference Page: “Bylaws Function as ‘Constitution’ of Nonprofit Corporations.”)

In addition to the annual review of the top issues during the year, the morning program will focus on the Pennsylvania Budget debacle and efforts now underway to prevent it from happening again. Any organization receiving governmental funding that goes through the state will be particularly interested in this session.

Other breakouts include sessions on strategic alliances, employee benefits, charitable giving, employment law, and ethical issues for lawyers and directors of nonprofit organizations.

Space is limited.  Register now.

Kramer to do bylaw webinar for PANO

For those who can’t get to Philadelphia for “This Year in Nonprofit Law” but are interested in the bylaw session and can get to a computer, editor Don Kramer will present a webinar on bylaws for the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations at 1:30 ET on Monday December 7.  For further information and registration, go to www.pano.org.

Talk with the Editor, November 24

Join us for another Talk with the Editor telephone call on November 24 at 1 p.m. ET. You can use this time to discuss any topic covered in this edition, or raise any other issue of nonprofit law or follow-up on your own or someone else’s To The Point question. You won’t get legal advice, but you will get Don Kramer’s reactions based on more than 35 years of working with nonprofit organizations. Sign-up here.

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