Law Offices of Louis E. Michelson, A Professional Corporation

Expanding Permissible Titles for Chair of the Board of Nonprofit Corporations Is there anything more annoying that getting a bounced filing from the Secretary of State? Never mind the difficulty in getting all the required signatures, including the hard-to-reach chairperson of the board. Then the Secretary of State’s transmittal form letter tells you the document is being returned because the title on the document was chair rather than chair of the board. ... Really! There may be other more colorful words that come out of your mouth at that point. A new law has been signed by Governor Brown and will be become effective January 1, 2016 which specifically expands the permissible titles relating to a chair of a board. Nonprofit corporations (which include nonprofit public benefit, mutual benefit, religious and consumer cooperative corporations) are already authorized to use gender neutral terms for "chairman of the board." Starting January 1, 2016 nonprofits will be authorized to use alternative titles for chair of the board to match common usage in the nonprofit community. The titles chair, chairperson, chairman and chairwoman can be used without an "of the Board" modifier. For more information on SB 351, see the following http://tinyurl.com/qcqeml8

On Tuesday, July 28, 2015, I will be presenting, How to Rescue the Troubled Nonprofit, at the San Fernando Valley Morning Discussion Group of the California Society of CPAs, El Torito Restaurant, 6040 Canoga Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91367; 8:00 - 9:00 am. For registration, please see the following http://tinyurl.com/p2j2aqd

Public Charities, Schedule B and California Attorney General To maintain registered status with the California Attorney General/Registry of Charitable Trusts, nonprofit organizations must file an annual report with that office. Charities also must include a copy of the tax return filed with the IRS. Schedule B is an attachment to Form 990. A nonprofit identifies on Schedule B the names of its major donors. Even though this sensitive information is provided to Uncle Sam, the I...RS redacts this information and does not make it public. The IRS keeps this donor information confidential for public charities pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 6104(d)(3)(A). If a public charity does not provide Schedule B with the Form 990 to the California Attorney General/Registry of Charitable Trusts, the charity risks suspension of its registration. Under recently proposed amendments to the enforcement regulations, suspension of registration can have very serious consequences for a nonprofit. The Attorney General now has judicial approval of its requirement that public charities furnish Schedule B to maintain registered status. The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the California Attorney General’s right to require charities to file a complete (unredacted) Form 990, which includes Schedule B. See Center For Competitive Politics v. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General of California. One should be aware that Form 990s received by the California Attorney General/Registry of Charitable Trusts, are posted on the Registry’s website. Historically it appears that Schedule B information for public charities has been excluded and not posted on the Registry’s website. Charities should be aware that the California Attorney General is serious about requiring Schedule B. What does that mean in terms of continuing confidentiality of donors for charities operating in California?

Starting Tuesday, March 31, 2015, I begin teaching my UCLA Extension class Tax Reporting and Governance for Nonprofit Organizations, For more information and to register please see the following link http://tinyurl.com/ofh8yqr