Churches are sometimes tempted to lend their support to political candidates with whom they share common values or interests. But U.S. tax law restricts the kinds of political speech churches and [...]
Over the past few issues of the newsletter, we have provided excerpts from our upcoming book on managing the nonprofit organization. We are providing an advance look at the part of the book that [...]
Every nonprofit in California must register with the state attorney general’s office. The purpose of registration is to assist the state’s efforts to monitor nonprofits’ compliance with the rules [...]
Every legal entity organized in California must comply with certain reporting rules. Compliance with reporting rules is important for a variety of reasons. In the nonprofit realm, compliance can [...]
A nonprofit that plans to do political work—lobbying, proposing legislation, and so on—can receive tax-exempt status from the IRS and state tax authorities as a social welfare organization. At [...]
Copyright law intersects with church governance in a number of important ways. Sermons and other forms of oral or written ministry are subject to copyright. As is the music performed by a church [...]
Regardless of how a church is organized, whether as a nonprofit association or corporation, it should have a governing document that sets out the basic features of its management. Unincorporated [...]
Every nonprofit needs to adopt policies and procedures to ensure that its managers, employees, and volunteers have a clear plan for handling important parts of the organization’s operations. A [...]
Whether through forgetfulness, sloppiness, or conscious disregard, a nonprofit’s management can easily make mistakes that violate the requirements of its governing documents. Such mistakes, once [...]
Since its beginning under George W. Bush, the federal government’s “faith-based initiative” has offered grants to qualified religious organizations to assist them with their charitable work. The [...]