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Full-Text Articles in Law
Stealth Preemption: The Irs's Nonprofit Corporate Governance Initiative, James J. Fishman
Stealth Preemption: The Irs's Nonprofit Corporate Governance Initiative, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The Internal Revenue Service, the primary federal regulator of charities, has initiated a corporate governance initiative. The intervention by the Internal Revenue Service into an area traditionally the preserve of state nonprofit corporate law has little relationship to issues of tax compliance. This corporate governance initiative has been accomplished in the face of IRS acknowledgement that it has no statutory authority relating to these issues. Yet, the power of the Service to recognize tax exempt status and the method it has used to ensure it vision of correct corporate governance practices through a series of questions when an organization applies …
Wrong Way Corrigan And Recent Developments In The Nonprofit Landscape: A Need For New Legal Approaches, James J. Fishman
Wrong Way Corrigan And Recent Developments In The Nonprofit Landscape: A Need For New Legal Approaches, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This essay argues that some of the assumptions by which we view and regulate the nonprofit sector are traveling, as did Wrong Way Corrigan, in the wrong direction. This is due to faulty assumptions about the nonprofit universe, overreactions to perceived problems, and a reluctance to consider innovative approaches to existing problems. This essay examines some of the erroneous assumptions, discusses recent legislative initiatives, and suggests that there is a need for more than incremental approaches when considering the nonprofit landscape. It argues that regulation of fiduciary behavior should be at the local level, or a combination of local and …
Improving Charitable Accountability, James J. Fishman
Improving Charitable Accountability, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article focuses upon a persistent problem of the nonprofit sector--its lack of accountability to the public. Director, officer, and organizational responsibilities will be analyzed. Past and current approaches to secure accountability of charitable assets will be discussed, and a proposal for improving charitable accountability will be suggested through the creation of public-private charity commissions at the state level under the aegis of the attorney general.
Checkpoints On The Conversion Highway: Some Trouble Spots In The Conversion Of Nonprofit Health Care Organizations To For-Profit Status, James J. Fishman
Checkpoints On The Conversion Highway: Some Trouble Spots In The Conversion Of Nonprofit Health Care Organizations To For-Profit Status, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This essay does not address the truly important policy issues: whether for-profit healthcare should be allowed or encouraged; how the quality of care compares to nonprofits or what criteria should be used to evaluate the quality of care; or what the impact of these conversions is on the communities they serve. It discusses less significant issues: those of process—how can we shape and control this tidal wave of change so that the public will be served and charitable assets preserved to the maximum extent possible? The focus is upon the valuation of these charitable assets; the appropriate process of conversion; …
Standards Of Conduct For Directors Of Nonprofit Corporations, James J. Fishman
Standards Of Conduct For Directors Of Nonprofit Corporations, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article analyzes the standards of care and loyalty that should apply to directors of nonprofit corporations. It suggests that the movement toward corporate law principles neither reflects the differences in the types of nonprofit corporations nor provides a coherent rationale for the conduct regulated. The "trust law"-"corporate law" distinction has often centered upon the label to be applied rather than on an analysis of the principles involved. Too often the selection of the label has determined the result. At other times, the label has been used as a convenient rationalization of a socially desirable conclusion. This Article will attempt …
The Development Of Nonprofit Corporation Law And An Agenda For Reform, James J. Fishman
The Development Of Nonprofit Corporation Law And An Agenda For Reform, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article examines the development of the law of “charitable corporations”' and attempts to explain why the charitable corporation rather than the charitable trust became the predominant organizational form for charitable and benevolent activities in the United States. It then discusses some of the inconsistencies of nonprofit corporation law and provides an agenda for future reform.