Nonprofits with compensated workers must respect applicable laws governing the distinction between employees and independent contractor. Getting it wrong can result in significant risk exposure to the organizations and even personal liability to board members. For example, nonprofits that misclassify workers as independent contractors may be responsible for unpaid...
CALIFORNIA LAW
Stipulated Judgment Against Fiscal Sponsor for Misspending Donations
Fiscal sponsors must respect laws related to protecting assets restricted to furthering the charitable purposes of specific projects . If funds intended for a particular internal (Model A) project are diverted and used for other purposes (e.g., the fiscal sponsor’s general operating expenses), there may be legal repercussions. This...
Crowdfunding Laws: Platform Charities
In 2021, California passed a new set of laws (referred to as AB 488) regulating charitable crowdfunding that go into effect on January 1, 2023. AB 488 makes changes to the Supervision of Trustees and Fundraisers for Charitable Purposes Act, which governs charitable corporations, unincorporated associations, trustees, commercial fundraisers,...
Highlights from the ABA Exempt Organizations Committee Meeting 2/1/22 – Part Two
Consequences of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta We are left to conclude that the Attorney General’s disclosure requirement imposes a widespread burden on donors’ associational rights. And this burden cannot be justified on the ground that the regime is narrowly tailored to investigating charitable wrongdoing, or that the...
California Attorney General Forms
The following message is from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California: Updated Forms for 2022 Updated forms will be available for download by January 1, 2022 and will be required with any filings received by the Registry on or after January 1, 2022. Significant changes include...
California Nonprofits: New Changes to the Corporate Laws
California nonprofit corporations should be aware of Assembly Bill 663 (AB 663) that was signed into law on October 5, 2021. AB 663 deals with electronic transmissions (including emails) during emergencies (including pandemics). The changes may seem minor to many nonprofits, but I agree with the recommendation of the...
Maintaining Standing: A California Case
Question Whether a director of a nonprofit public benefit corporation who brings an action on behalf of the nonprofit public benefit corporation can lose standing to pursue its claims if the director is not reelected during the litigation? Answer Yes. The statutory scheme and public policy considerations require a...
Supreme Court Rules on Mandatory Donor Disclosures
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on July 1 that California could not mandate the disclosure of major donors by charities to the State even though such disclosure is already required to be made to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The 6-3 decision in Americans for Prosperity...
California Nonprofits: Updates from the Secretary of State
California nonprofit corporations (and foreign nonprofit corporations operating in California) should be aware of several recent changes that impact filings with the California Secretary of State (SoS). SB 522 Filings with the SoS must include the entity name and number as they exist on the Secretary of State’s records....
Briefing: AB 5 and the Arts
California Alliance for Arts Education and Californians for the Arts held a briefing on AB 5 and its implications for the arts field on March 3, 2021. Attorney Arlene Yang of Meyers Nave provided an overview of AB 5 and the follow-up bill AB 2257 and described how they...