Six Critical Policies for Nonprofits

Six Critical Policies for Nonprofits

Thursday, January 20 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | Webinar

Presented by: Don Kramer, Esq. and Catherine Gillespie, Esq., Montgomery McCracken

Moderated by: Tish Mogan, Standards for Excellence Director, PANO

Offered in Partnership with: Nonprofit Issues

*CPE & CLE credits are available for this program for accountants and lawyers; to receive credit you must register through Nonprofit Issues.

Concerned about the governance of your organization?

Start the New Year right, with a renewed look at six critical policies that help your organization function safely and effectively.

Nonprofits have traditionally paid attention to conflict-of-interest policies, whistleblower policies, and document retention and destruction policies. Organizations pay attention, in large part, because the IRS asks about these policies on the Form 990 tax return. But these policies are critical in ensuring that the organization protects itself from wrong-doing and criticism that would undermine its ability to promote its mission. Potential donors, members of the media, regulators, and careful job seekers will have greater confidence when an organization responds “yes” to the policy questions on the 990.

Effective nonprofits also develop a series of other policies to guide their internal operations. We will take a long look at three of these:

• A compensation policy that provides attractive and fair levels of compensation and protects against excess benefits transactions.
• Confidentiality policies to control the issues that board and staff may talk about publicly. An inartful policy, if actually enforced, however, could prevent some directors from fulfilling their fiduciary duties.
• Remote work policies that may need a new look as “virtual” work is becoming permanent for many.

We will take a deep dive into these policies, discussing the key components of each policy and reviewing various sample policies to see how organizations can deal differently with different issues.

We will highlight policies promulgated and copyrighted by the Standards for Excellence Institute, the national program for ethics and accountability in the nonprofit sector. The Standards were originally developed by Maryland Nonprofits and are being promoted nationally with 10 replication partners, including the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO).

Nonprofits of all types and sizes are welcome to participate and join the discussion with your own comments or questions.

*CPE & CLE credits are available for this program for accountants and lawyers; to receive credit you must register through Nonprofit Issues.

Single Login Cost:
$45 per person for PANO Members | $100 per person for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation
Your purchase entitles you to a single login. Please do not share the login information with others, as it may interfere with your ability to join. If multiple individuals from your organization would like to view the webinar, please purchase separate tickets for each person or consider a group screening ticket (below).

Group Screening Cost (4-10 individuals):
$150 per group for PANO Members | $333 per group for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation

If you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar, please have one person register selecting the group ticket. You can then enter the names and email addresses of up to 9 other individuals to add to your group ticket. This option makes the most sense when you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar. For fewer than 4 attendees, a single login ticket for each person is the most cost-effective option. For more than 10 attendees, please email Christina at christina@pano.org to discuss options.
 

Materials & Login/Call-In Instructions:
Materials (PowerPoint and other handouts), along with instructions on how to login and call-in, will be emailed to attendees a few days prior to the date of the webinar. PANO uses Zoom as our webinar platform; you can familiarize yourself with Zoom and/or join a test meeting prior to these sessions.

Can’t attend? All webinar registrants will receive a recording of the webinar following the live session!

About the Facilitators

Donald W. Kramer, Esq., Montgomery McCracken

Donald W. Kramer serves as chair of Montgomery McCracken’s Nonprofit practice group.

Don has more than 45 years of experience dealing with the concerns of nonprofit organizations, not only as a lawyer, but also as a teacher, writer, publisher, and board member. He has worked with nonprofits of all types and sizes, helping structure startup situations and restructure multiorganizational health and educational systems. He counsels on a wide range of nonprofit corporate structure and governance, private and community foundations, continuing care retirement communities, exempt organization taxation, low-income housing tax credit transactions, real estate, charitable giving, and other nonprofit issues.

Don has provided legal services to The Philadelphia Foundation for more than 40 years.

Don serves as the editor and publisher of Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues®, a national newsletter of “Nonprofit Law You Need to Know,” which he founded in 1989.

Prior to joining Montgomery McCracken in 1972, Don served as deputy development coordinator and assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia.

Catherine H. Gillespie, Esq., Montgomery McCracken

Catherine H. Gillespie focuses on higher education law, health care, and corporate and tax law issues generally affecting nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.

Cathy’s work with colleges and universities includes advice on the interpretation and implementation of FERPA, the Clery Act, HIPAA and the Americans with Disabilities Act. She regularly advises colleges and universities on a wide-range of matters, including student-related matters; grievance procedures; drafting faculty policies and procedures; writing and reviewing contracts; compliance with federal and state regulations; real estate tax and other charitable exemption issues; drafting amendments to bylaws and articles of incorporation; and governance issues. Cathy is also involved with bond financings as the college or university’s counsel.

Due to her prior experience as a social worker in the health care field and her legal training, Cathy understands health care professions and organizations and regularly works with 501(c) health care entities to advise them on board governance and structure, state and federal regulatory compliance, licensure issues, contractual arrangements, and day-to-day business operations.