Description
Standards for Excellence Educational Resource Packet #21 3.0
Published 2025
Maintaining Legal Compliance
21.1: Why nonprofits must follow federal, state, and local laws
21.1.1: What is legal compliance?
21.1.2: How do you determine what laws to follow? Who in the org oversees this?
21.1.3: Challenging the law, civil disobedience and nonprofits
21.1.4: Fighting for vs. fighting against laws
21.2: State Law – Know where to go
21.2.1: Role of Secretary of State and Attorney General
21.2.2: Anti-Discrimination, Marriage Equality, and Protected Classes
21.2.3 : How to find out what laws your state has for nonprofits
21.2.4: Organizations that operate in more than one state
21.3: Local Laws – City/County/Territory/Tribal
21.3.1: Role of local authorities
21.3.2: How to find out what laws pertain to your organization
21.3.3: Why legal reviews are necessary
21.4: Structuring a Review
21.4.1: Organizing a review
21.4.2: Approaches to conducting a review in nonprofits with 0-5 staff members
21.4.3: Approaches to conducting a review in nonprofits with 5-25 staff members
21.4.4: Approaches to conducting a review with designated compliance officers and/or general counsel
21.4.5: Approaches to conducting a review in organizations that operate internationally
21.5: Using the results
21.5.1: Sharing the results with the board
21.5.2: Using the results for greater effectiveness
Attachments:
Attachment 21A Checklist of Compliance with Selected Legal, Regulatory, and Financial Reporting Requirements for Nonprofits
Attachment 21B Compliance Issues Related to Key Terms in Attachment A
Attachment 21C IRS Form 990 Governance and Management Policy Compendium
