Guidance, Training and Assistance for Nonprofits
Attorney
General's Charities Bureau
The Charities Bureau's website
includes many valuable resources for nonprofits, including guidance on
forming nonprofits, registration with and reporting to the Charities
Bureau, and compliance with legal requirements applicable to
transactions by nonprofits such as mergers and sales of
property. It also posts on-line seminars on registration,
fundraising and laws applicable to political contributions by
nonprofits; and timely announcements concerning legal
issues.
The Attorney General's Guides
and publications are posted at http://www.charitiesnys.com/guides_advice_new.html
Among the
publications are the following which provide guidance on directors'
duties and financial management:
Right From the Start: Responsibilities of Directors of
Not-for-Profit Corporations
Internal Controls and Financial Accountability for
Not-for-Profit Boards
Alliance for
Nonprofit Management
The Alliance for Nonprofit
Management is a professional association of individuals and
organizations whose mission is improve the management and governance
capacity of nonprofits. Its web site includes information about
resources available to not-for-profit organizations.
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
(AICPA)
The AICPA’s web site has
extensive information on accounting standards and procedures. It
is a valuable source of a wide variety of information on accounting
issues applicable to nonprofits. .
Boardnet
USA
Boardnet USA is a nonprofit
organization whose mission is to strengthen the governing and management
capability of nonprofit boards of directors by bringing qualified
leadership into service as board members. Boardnet assists boards
in defining their board recruitment objectives and then conducting a
targeted search for business, professional and community leaders with
the desired expertise, diversity of perspective and resources. Its
web site is a resource designed to enable potential board members--and
nonprofit boards needing leadership--to find each other.
BoardSource,
Inc.
has a wide range of material
designed to assist board members in carrying out their duties. Its
nine pamphlet “Governance Series”, beginning with Ten
Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, is a source of basic
information for board members and includes other suggested
resources.
CompassPoint
CompassPoint is an electronic
newsletter for members of nonprofit boards of directors. Board
Café offers a menu of ideas, information, opinion, news, and
resources to help board members in carrying out the responsibilities of
their board service.
Council on
Foundations
The Council on Foundations is a
membership organization of more than 2,000 grant making foundations and
giving programs worldwide. It provides leadership expertise, legal
services and networking opportunities, among other services, to its
members and to the general public. Its web site contains
information of interest to not-for-profit boards.
Foundation
Center
The Foundation Center's mission
is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S.
philanthropy. It collects, organizes and communicates information
on U.S. philanthropy, conducts and facilitates research on trends in the
field, provides education and training on the grant seeking process and
promotes public access to information and services through its web site
and print and electronic publications and five library/learning
centers.
Governance Matters
Governance Matters is an
organization whose purpose is to encourage and promote good governance
in the nonprofit sector. Its web site posts information on good
governance, links to other sites of interest to not-for-profit boards
and information about courses and conferences for nonprofit board
members.
Independent
Sector (IS)
Independent Sector is a
national coalition of nonprofit organizations of all sizes as well as
Fortune 500 corporations with commitments to community
involvement. IS advocates on behalf of and provides educational
services to the nonprofit sector.
LawHelp.org
LawHelp/NY is an on-line tool
for helping low-income New Yorkers. LawHelp/NY's mission is to provide
and promote access to online information about free legal services
throughout New York and information about legal rights in a broad range
of areas. Its website includes numerous publications on a variety of
legal issues and advice on how to secure legal
representation.
Lawyers Alliance of New York (LANY)
LANY is a not-for-profit
corporation whose staff attorneys and 650 volunteer lawyers from private
firms and corporations provide pro bono legal services to
nonprofit organizations. LANY’s publications provide
guidance for organizations in drafting by-laws, applying for tax exempt
status, securing fiscal management and other aspects of nonprofit
governance.
Legal Aid Society Community Development Project
The Community Development
Project (CDP) provides support for three client groups: low-income
not-for-profit organizations, low-income entrepreneurs, and low-income
housing cooperatives. Among the areas of legal assistance it
provides to nonprofits are incorporation, financing, tax issues, lease
negotiations, and corporate governance.
New York City Bar Justice Center - The Public Service
Network
The Public Service Network, a
program offered through the City Bar Justice Center, matches attorneys
with both legal and non-legal volunteer opportunities in the
not-for-profit sector.
National Association of
State Charity Officials
This site is maintained by the
National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO). NASCO members
are employees of state agencies that regulate not-for-profit
organizations and their fund raisers. The site provides information
concerning the registration and reporting requirements applicable to
not-for-profits that conduct activities and/or raise funds in the
various states.
New York Council of Nonprofits
(NYCON)
NYCON is a statewide
association of over 1,000 charitable nonprofit organizations.
NYCON conducts programs designed to strengthen the nonprofit sector,
provide information to donors and contribute to community-based
planning. NYCON provides technical assistance, training,
information and group purchasing options for nonprofits. It also
provides information to and conducts and coordinates advocacy on behalf
of the New York nonprofit sector. Its web site contains
information concerning membership in NYCON and resources for nonprofit
organizations.
New York Lawyers for the
Public Interest (NYLPI)
NYLPI’s Pro
Bono Clearinghouse maintains a network of over 80
law firms and corporate legal departments who are willing to volunteer
their time to address the legal needs of New York’s
underrepresented communities. NYLPI connects community groups and
non-profits in need of legal assistance with those law firms and
corporate legal departments in its network.
New York State
Society of CPAs
The New York State Society of
CPAs is a membership association of certified
public accountants. It has resources available to answer technical
inquiries, offer training in financial and tax areas and provides
referrals for audit and tax services.
Nonprofit
Coordinating Committee of New York (NPCC)
NPCC is a nonprofit membership
corporation of exempt organizations. Its goal is to protect and
help the city's nonprofit sector by offering management services to
its members. It also monitors governmental actions on the city,
state and federal level to promote the needs of nonprofit
organizations. It holds workshops and roundtables on managerial
and organizational issues and posts publications of interest to
nonprofits.
Pro Bono
Partnership
The Pro Bono Partnership
provides business and transactional legal services to nonprofit
organizations serving the disadvantaged and enhancing the quality of
life in neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut. The Partnership mobilizes and supports hundreds
of lawyers from leading corporations and law firms who volunteer their
legal expertise on behalf of the Partnership’s clients, enabling
them to more effectively feed the hungry, house the homeless, promote
the arts, protect the environment and provide essential programs to
children, the elderly, immigrants, the disabled and the
unemployed. The Partnership provides services in the lower New
York Hudson Valley, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Urban
Institute
The Urban Institute is a
nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization
established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems
facing the nation. It provides information and analysis to public and
private decision makers to help them address these challenges. It
maintains extensive databases of information on the not-for-profit
sector.
Volunteer Lawyers for the
Arts (VLA)
VLA provides legal services and
legal information to over 10,000 members of the arts community each
year. It also educates individual artists, arts professionals within
arts and cultural institutions, attorneys, students and the general
public about legal and business issues that affect artistic and creative
endeavors and it is an advocate on behalf of the arts
community.
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