The NonProfit Times - June 15, 2008 - (Page 14)

REGULATION KARL E. EMERSON ‘Always Do Right’ Follow Mark Twain’s still timely advice in 2008 A ttorneys often use hypothetical situations because they’re such an effective way of communicating and learning important legal issues and concepts. So, to see whether you picked up on one of the key points made in the regulation columns that ran in these pages during February and March, here’s a hypothetical for you to consider. You recently graduated from law school and found out last month that you passed the Bar exam. Two weeks ago you started your new dream job as General Counsel of a large Pennsylvania-based charity that’s solicited contributions nationally for the past 20 or more years. You just finished reading some back issues of The NonProfit Times that were in your office when you arrived, including a couple of columns by the former director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations who recently retired and is now in private practice.Among other things, the columns addressed the legal requirements for charities that solicit contributions nationally to register in 39 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the potential fines, negative publicity, and other legal sanctions that could result from non-compliance. Eager to impress your new boss, and somewhat anxious to see whether your new employer is in compliance with these laws, you stop by the executive director’s office to discuss these issues. After you inform him about your newfound knowledge, he tells you that he’s actually known about these legal requirements for years and that the organization is registered to solicit contributions in Pennsylvania because that’s where the organization is located and because Pennsylvania has a reputation for zealously enforcing its solicitation law. However, he then proceeds to tell you that, after looking into the legal requirements to register with the 38 other states and the District of Columbia several years ago, he concluded that it was simply too cumbersome and costly to do so. Besides, he’d heard that most states have very limited resources to pursue violations of these laws. As a result, many years ago he decided to only register with Pennsylvania because that’s where the organization is located and simply wait to see whether any other state oversight agencies ever contact the organization about its unregistered solicitations in their states. Your new boss tells you that if any other state were to ever discover that the organization was soliciting there, he would simply plead “ignorance of the law,” offer to promptly submit the required registration materials, and ask that any possible fines or penalties be waived. He further tells you that he knows for a fact that many other organizations in exactly the same situation have adopted a similar strategy -- wait to comply if, and only if, their noncompliance is eventually discovered by one or more states. The executive director proudly tells you that he figures he’s saved the organization thousands of dollars in registration fees alone as a result of this strategy.Your new boss then turns to you and asks what you think of his cost-saving strategy. After you carefully and respectfully express your concerns that this might not be the most prudent or appropriate course LEADERSHIP MARK HRYWNA New Boss At NCNA Three-year deal for former prosecutor and ethics leader A n attorney who has won cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and created a nonprofit to advise and teach other nonprofits on ethics will be the next leader of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA). Tim Delaney, a former Solicitor General and Chief Deputy Attorney General in Arizona, will become the executive director of NCNA effective July 7. He will replace Audrey Alvarado, who has led NCNA since 1999 and announced in late March she would be leaving the Washington, D.C.based nonprofit. Delaney will earn an annual salary of $160,000 under a three-year contract. Delaney interviewed before the full NCNA board the night before being intro- duced during an NCNA membership meeting as members gathered for the second Nonprofit Congress at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. He was among four finalists for the post. The president of the Phoenix, Ariz.based Center for Leadership, Ethics & Public Service, Delaney was instrumental in creating the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits several years ago and has been a senior advisor to NCNA, helping in the early planning of the Nonprofit Congress in late 2004. Prior to establishing the center in 2001, Delaney was chief deputy attorney general and appointed Arizona’s solicitor general in 1995. He also is a national Training Fellow for the nonpartisan Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) in Washington, D.C. and an adjunct professor “ We need to be champions for the nonprofit community in terms of advocacy, not just legislative lobbying. — Tim Delaney at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs and Nonprofit Management. Delaney has the ability and bold vision to shape the next chapter of NCNA’s existence, according to Patrick McWhorter, president and CEO of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and a member of the NCNA board’s search committee.“Tim is visionary,”McWhorter said, adding that his inspirational message is a big reason why the alliance has the support it does in Arizona. Delaney composed a report for the Arizona Community Foundation in 2003 on ” For all the latest jobs, go to www.nptjobs.com or call THE NONPROFIT TIMES at 973-401-0202 x206 14 JUNE 15, 2008 the scope of the nonprofit sector in Arizona.“Arizona’s Nonprofit Sector:The Spirit of Arizona” served as the basis for establishing the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits. Born in Indiana, Delaney grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and earned an undergraduate degree in political science and American studies from Yale University. He earned a law and public affairs degree from the University of Texas Law School. “The most important thing a leader does is listen,” Delaney said, and so he’ll be conducting a “proactive listening tour,” talking to nonprofits and stakeholders to help “fashion a bold vision.” The sector needs a “major paradigm shift,” Delaney said. “Nonprofits traditionally got together, live in our own separate silos, and the conversations are by us, about us and among us.” Nonprofits must build bridges to business and government, he said, to foster greater understanding. “We need to be champions for the nonprofit community in terms of advocacy, not just legislative lobbying,” but recognizing the full range of advocacy activities, be it judicial, administrative, legislative, whatever, whenever, federal, state, local, school, said Delaney. “Nonprofits create that space for people to come together,” Delaney said.“Nonprofits have a special role.” NPT THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.nptjobs.com http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - June 15, 2008 Fundraising Fizzles For Myanmar And China Complaints Filed Against Grant Institute Nonprofit Styles Aren't Out Of Fashion Contents Lights. Camera. Action. Calendar New Boss At Gates Approaching Businesses Big Isn't Always Better Obama And You 'Always Do Right' New Boss At NCNA Three Networks Will Air $100 Million Cancer Fundraiser NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - June 15, 2008

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