by Elizabeth R. Koller Whittenbury *Posted with Permission from California Lawyer. This file cannot be downloaded from this page. California Lawyer’s definition of reprint permission does not include the downloading, copying by third parties or any other type of transmission of any posted articles. This spring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an opinion letter…
by Lisa A. Runquist and Judy F. Zybach* Updated 7/14/01 On June 18, 1997, the “Volunteer Protection Act of 1997” was enacted into law by the United States Congress (111 Stat. 218). The purpose of the Act is to limit lawsuits against volunteers serving nonprofit public and private organizations and governmental agencies. The Act was…
by Lisa A. Runquist Note: This is simply a summary of the law in California concerning nonprofit corporations. It is not intended to be a complete statement of the law, and should not be relied upon as such. I. General Corporate Law A. Summary A corporation begins its legal existence by filing its Articles of…
by Lisa A. Runquist Business Law Today, Volume 4, Number 2, November/December 1994 You are the volunteer legal advisor and a director of Feeding the Homeless, a nonprofit. In between swigs of coffee at breakfast, you notice an item in the morning paper. The headline: “Feeding the Homeless fees itself.” Seems a reporter found out…
by Lisa A. Runquist Business Law News, Vol. 15. No. 2, Spring 1994 On a cold, dark, windy night, an action took place that dramatically increased the liability of directors of nonprofit corporations located in California. As described by the California Supreme Court in Frances T. v. Village Green Owners Assn.: On the night of…
by Lisa A. Runquist WORKS, Vol. I, No. 1, May 1991. How should I invest my money? Is there some way I can get a good return and still do the Lord’s work? Many people ask these questions. Some choose to invest with an individual because he is a part of the church, is “a…
by Lisa A. Runquist Charitable Giving and Solicitation, 1991 Macmillan Information Company, Inc. With many nonprofit organizations, there has been a tendency to select members of the board of directors on the basis of the prestige these directors will lend to the organization. Many directors respond by regarding the position as an “honorary” or “figurehead”…
by Lisa A. Runquist WORKS, Vol. I, No. 3, August 1991. Pastor Jones was puzzled. He had just gone to an employment seminar and found out that he couldn’t discriminate against people because of their sex. He asked about discriminating against homosexuals and was told that this was also prohibited. How, he thought, could this…