A Desktop Guide for Nonprofit Directors, Officers, and Advisors: Avoiding Trouble While Doing Good

How to keep any nonprofit out of trouble, running smoothly, and accomplishing its mission



"Jack Siegel--lawyer, accountant, management consultant, and computer whiz--takes the putative director or officer of a nonprofit organization on a useful and often entertaining voyage throughout the realm of the tax-exempt organizations universe, pointing out its quirks, foibles, and legal liabilities along the way. His handbook will make mandatory--and arresting--reading for those who are already serving as trustees, directors, officers, and key employees of exempt organizations, particularly charitable ones. Siegel's goal, in which he succeeds, is to help directors and officers of nonprofit organizations 'make better decisions.' The book is full of large policy analyses and paragraphs on the details, such as board size, board committees, board meeting formats, the contents of minutes, and the duties of officers.

Salted with some excellent real-life examples, what also sets this book apart from most in its genre is the tone: the writing style, the brusqueness, the bluntness. He complains that too many directors 'check their good judgment at the boardroom door.' He advises individuals who 'desire agreement and demand adulation' to stay off boards; he insists on 'commitment' and 'institutional tension' with the executive director. He warns prospective directors that some organizations want, in addition to time and judgment, 'either your money or your ability to raise money.' To my delight, he extols the virtues of 'some level of expenditures' for qualified lawyers and accountants.

Please join me in adding this most helpful handbook to your nonprofit library."
--Bruce R. Hopkins, Attorney at Law, author of The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Eighth Edition and Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, Fourth Edition

Jack B. Siegel, an attorney and CPA, is the founder and President of Auto Didactix LLC, an Illinois limited liability company that develops and markets interactive guides and tutorials that are of interest to lawyers, accountants, and financial professionals, as well as students. Jack practiced law for ten years with Foley & Lardner, where he was a partner on the firm's Tax Team. He has served on the boards of a number of nonprofits, and provided advice to nonprofits on matters including hospital system conversions and restructurings, sales of major assets, joint ventures, private foundation status, and low-income housing tax credits. He is the creator and author of three software programs for attorneys, accountants, and students: TaxProf, Tax-Deferred Like-Kind Exchanges of Real Estate, and Avoiding Trouble While Doing Good: A Guide for the Nonprofit Director and Officer.