When you have chapters and affiliates that aren't incorporated, how do you
handle agreements or grants between such entities? SJ.
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 10:31 PM, Michael C. Berch <mcb(a)postmodern.com>wrote;wrote:
On Dec 19, 2012, at 6:49 PM, James Alexander wrote:
On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 4:41 PM, Michael C. Berch <mcb(a)postmodern.com>wrote;wrote:
There are no legal or financial stakes, the
issue of "municipalities" is
an irrelevant triviality, and it just serves to annoy people.
--
Michael C. Berch
User:MCB
mcb(a)postmodern.com
There most certainly are legal and financial stakes. An incorporated
organization costs a not insignificant amount of resources and cash to
maintain even before they do anything at all. This is especially true when
you are spanning multiple diverse jurisdictions (such as states or
countries) and have to know at least some of the laws of each. I don't
think towns/cities are a major problem. I'm sure it will be an added
wrinkle given that the jurisdiction overlaps the foundations offices itself.
I can't speak to jurisdictions outside the U.S., but I have a fair amount
of experience and expertise with respect to both business and nonprofit
entities in the U.S. I have formed and advised a number of both as an
attorney, and I can assure you that there are no problems in operating a
501(c)(3) organization (or similar) that operates in multiple or
overlapping states, counties, or municipalities. It is also not
particularly necessary that a "chapter" or "affiliate" of a national
or
global nonprofit (like Wikimedia Foundation) be, itself, an incorporated
entity. (The Board of Directors may specify that as a requirement, but it
is not a legal one.)
Inexperienced organizations often "over-organize" when it comes to local
chapters and affiliates, drawing precise geographical jurisdictional lines
or requiring that the affiliates represent some particular level of
subnational entities. There are a number of reasons why this happens,
including intra-organizational politics and misunderstanding of legal
issues. It is almost never a good idea, and as we see, generates unneeded
conflicts.
--
Michael C. Berch
User:MCB
mcb(a)postmodern.com
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