Nonprofit Law and Governance For Dummies

by Jill Gilbert Welytok, Daniel S. Welytok, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (Foreword)

As the number and size of nonprofit organizations continues to grow, NFPs are coming under ever-increasing government scrutiny. Soon Congress will require that nonprofits comply with rigorous accounting and governance standards very similar to those set forth for for-profits in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If you work for a nonprofit and are concerned about meeting impending changes to tax and finance standards governing NFPs this book is for you. In simple, straight-forward language, this guide demystifies the often perplexing world of nonprofit governance in the age of Sarbanes-Oxley. Author, Jill Gilbert Welytok, an attorney who heads the Sarbanes-Oxley division of a major Midwest law firm, walks you step-by-step through the process of evaluating your governance structures. She arms you with tips and strategies for adopting uniform standards under current governance and tax laws, while preparing you for any upcoming changes. She shows you how to protect your tax status and reassure donors and volunteers while staying true to your organization’s mission. And she fills you in on what you need to know Including sample nonprofit bylaws and a complete audit committee report, Nonprofit Law & Governance for Dummies, Second Edition is an indispensable survival tool for 21 st century nonprofits.

Genres: School

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Joe Michalak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great overview of Law and Governance related to Nonprofits. Note that this book was written in 2006, and therefore is heavily influenced by the then-recent passage of Sarbanes-Oxley. This law is not applicable to nonprofits, but it does provide a roadmap towards good governance practices. The content is pretty much an even split of Laws related to founding the nonprofit, getting and maintaining tax-exempt status, and audit/financial reporting.

One thing I wish the book covered more of is what is an appropriate level of governance for smaller nonprofits. Most of the users of the book are probably starting a nonprofit or joining their first board, and while implementing everything in the book in full is the ideal, realistically, most small nonprofits will have neither the staff nor the complexity to warrant such an endeavor. Nevertheless, this is a great starting point, which could be followed up with additional reading.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a course of study refreshing myself on nonprofit governance issues. It was a little basic for my tastes, but I acknowledge I'm not really the target audience for the book. I think it would be a reasonably good introduction for a person interested in starting a nonprofit or joining the board of directors of a nonprofit.

[Andrea McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this to learn more for volunteering. I enjoy these books, they’re a good reference.

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pdf version of this book wasn't formatted especially well--the paper page numbers came along with the text, so there would be (very frequently) pages that were entirely blank expect for the page number. Not a huge issue, but annoying.

The book itself is set up so that each section is stand alone, so that you don't have to read the whole book, only the sections that are relevant to you. This is great, because I wasn't interested in the sections on becoming a nonprofit board member (as I'm not currently one and no one's asked me to be one!). The book covers a huge range of topics, which is great for an overview of basic laws and principles of the nonprofit world. The downside to this, of course, is that nothing is particularly in depth.

I found some of the sections more informative than others, but left the book still feeling confused on certain issues. For example, there's a chapter on forming a nonprofit and getting tax exempt status that felt like it left out some important bits of information. Granted, each state has different laws on starting up a business, but I felt like the author made assumptions about what I (the reader) already knew. This is a Dummies book, so I expect it to cover the basics--not assume I already know a lot about the subject matter (if I did, I wouldn't be reading this book!!).

Overall, though, a decent overview with a lot of additional resources listed at the end and throughout to help readers further their knowledge.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Answered a lot of questions that I had, and raised some new questions for me to investigate. This is a good place to start reading about nonprofit governance issues, and serves as a excellent introductory guide.

[Zak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book specifically had some really good information. Easy to understand and straight forward. Answered a lot of my questions.