Keeping up with Your Organization’s Governing Documents
As stakeholders, we have the responsibility of insuring good, ethical governance including following the organization’s mission, updating documents to comply with the government’s demands, and being transparent. As in our daily lives, every nonprofit must be aware of its governing documents like bylaws, articles of incorporation, amendments, policies, procedures, certifications, grants requirements, audits, monthly and yearly financials, employee manuals, donors, 990’s, and board training. Together, these indicate whether the organization is or is not in good standing.
A good practice is to establish a governance or board development committee to evaluate the governing documents for at least the first five years and recruit board members for the organization. The committee must present its recommendations to the board, and the board must evaluate and act on the committee’s recommendations.
In some cases, the governance committee may recommend changes to the bylaws to keep the organization up to date. These changes are submitted to the IRS as part of the organization’s 990. Some documents, such as the annual report, must be filed in the state where the organization was established. In Florida, the charitable solicitation must be filed every year with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The tax-exempt certification is valid for five years; therefore, it must be updated every five years.
Florida Nonprofits has published a booklet called Principles and Practices for Florida Nonprofit Excellence containing 10 principles and 133 practices. One of the principles is proper governance. To view or download the Florida Nonprofits’ Principles and Practices for Florida Nonprofit Excellence click here.
Learn more in the Leadership: Governance, Board Policy & Volunteerism class. Click here for the yearly schedule to find the next class.
Source: The Independent Sector https://independentsector.org/news-post/principle-18-keeping-up-withyour-governing-documents/ 2019
Optional, other resources recommended by the Author: Debra Rainey
- Keeping Your Governing Documents Up to Date, AssociationsNow.com
- 7 Reasons to Review Your Bylaws Now, NonProfitLawBlog.com
- Top 15 Nonprofit Board Governance Mistakes, CharityLawyerBlog.com
- Every Board’s Must-Have Documents, BoardSource.org
- 5 things every nonprofit board should review regularly, dotorgsolutions.com