January 25, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, Third Edition
by Bruce R. Hopkins
In the newly updated version of this book, Bruce R. Hopkins says he hopes to make the intricacies of the law understandable to “nonlawyer-managers of nonprofits.”
The book is divided into five sections that deal with starting a nonprofit organization, adhering to the laws that affect charities, protecting an organization’s tax-exempt status, maintaining healthy organizational practices and partnerships, and the future of nonprofit law.
In the first section, Mr. Hopkins, a Kansas City, Mo., lawyer, offers readers an overview of the legal distinction between nonprofit and for-profit organizations. He also explains how the Internal Revenue Service classifies tax-exempt organizations–such as advocacy groups, membership clubs, and social or recreational organizations.
Among the topics Mr. Hopkins discusses are the “intermediate sanctions” rules that authorize penalties for excessive compensation at charities, which he says are “the most significant package of statutory law to affect charitable organizations in the last 30 years.”
Throughout the book, Mr. Hopkins uses a fictional charity, the “Campaign to Clean Up America,” to illustrate his advice. He shows, for example, how the group would have to change its activities depending on whether it was classified as a private or public foundation, and what would happen to its tax-exempt status if it sought to influence legislation or participate in a political campaign.
Mr. Hopkins delves into the laws surrounding nonprofit partnerships, and suggests how organizations’ staff members and trustees might best avoid personal liability in cases when a nonprofit group gets in legal trouble. In the final portion of the book, he predicts that nonprofit groups will face increased regulation in coming years.
This text also includes an outline of the various reports and returns that a tax-exempt organization must file with the Internal Revenue Service and a glossary of relevant legal terms.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 1 Wiley Drive, Somerset, N.J. 08875; (800) 225-5945; fax (800) 597-3299; http://www.wiley.com; 344 pages; $26.95; I.S.B.N. 0-471-39727-x.
