http://www.fixmybylaws.com Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:22:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Check out the article "Volunteers Give 10 Times More Than Other Americans, Survey Finds" written for The Chronicle of Philanthropy by Caroline Preston. There are a lot of little tidbits extracted from full study by Harris Interactive for the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.   Two I find most interesting: It's ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/organized-nonprofits/ Einstein said: Make everything as simple as possible but not simpler. Same goes for bylaws of your nonprofit organization. You need enough structure in your bylaws to enable to organization to function well, but not so much as to hamstring its work. If you leave something out of the bylaws: It might be interpreted ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/what-belongs/ There was an interesting article in the Washington Post July 11, 2009 about condo officers deciding they deserve to be paid. Condo Officers Can't Pay Themselves Fees if Bylaws Forbid It by Benny L. Kass In my opinion, to allow board members to be compensated for their service will open the door ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/board-members-getting-paid/ Last weekend my family sat down to play a new game,  Cleopatra And The Society of Architects. In general, I hate games. (I have a terrible time waiting for my turn.)  But this one was pretty cool. It has some interesting strategy twists. What's that have to do with bylaws? My ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/know-the-rules/ Over the last hundred years or so, people have been trying to run their meetings using Robert’s Rules of Order. They are designed to efficiently run a meeting but not necessarily to facilitate the making of decisions. They can be cumbersome, so many groups often don’t adhere closely to them. And, ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/regarding-consensus/ I know bylaws. But I don't know the rules in every state. I just found this great book that has—among other great things—an appendix that lists, state by state, what is required to form a nonprofit organization. It's possible that some stuff may be slightly out of date, but at ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/what-my-state-requires/ Check out this article by Gene Takagi over at NonProfit Law Blog about board actions by email. While the article is focused on California law, I think the notion of what constitutes a legal digital signature is useful for all. According to California law, a  digital signature must have all of ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/more-on-electronic-voting/ There are laws in many states covering voting by electronic means, by email or other online process. Some states say electronic voting must be unanimous in order to carry. Others don't have any rules about it. Check with your state agency that regulates nonprofits.  You can find out who that is ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/what-about-electronic-voting/ Building bylaws from scratch or revising an existing set is a tedious but critical task. It’s easy to get tired of the job and just rush through some spots. It’s all too tempting to imagine that whoever does the job the next time can address those details. However, there is no ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2009/get-help/ I love getting questions from readers.  Helps me to know what problems you're facing. AND gives me something to poke around more about.  Here's a question I got today: I was looking for an example on how one includes in bylaws a ‘vote by proxy' or ‘voting by email outside of ... http://www.fixmybylaws.com/2008/electronic-voting-proxy/