Editing By Laws

[Guest Stephanie Eversley]

1) Does a 501©(3) Non Profit need to hire an attorney to edit their bylaws?  Many of our organization want to edit our bylaws, but some of the members that have been around for a long time state that we need an attorney to draft our changes in order for them to be legal and what they don't want to pay for it to be edited so the same bylaws are in place.  I do not believe this to be true, i thought that our bylaws are written for the organization by the organization with the organizations needs in mind.  Please assist with this.

 

2) Guidance with 501©(3) organizations, Does anyone have any experience with these?  We need clear funding guidance on where and how our money we raised can be spent.  I have read the statute and it says "not one party can benefit from the funds."  What does not one party REALLY mean?  not one group? or a group of the party? I believe that the funds need to be distributed IAW the bylaws but the bylaws do not specifically state how the funds are spent (hence the reason for wanting to edit our bylaws).

[Chris Harrison]

1) RONR doesn't require the organization hire an attorney to edit bylaws.  However, when you are dealing with legal issues (which may be the case with a 501c3) it might not be the worst idea.

2) It is beyond this forum's purview to interpret the law.  I would suggest you ask an attorney and if you have hired one to edit the bylaws you can kill two birds with one stone. 

[rtpftguy]

I have been the Chair of our national professional association's bylaws committee, which reviewed bylaws from each of our state affiliates for compliance with the association's bylaws.  Part of that was also assisting them if they wanted to amend their bylaws. Each chartered affiliate is a 501 c(3) organization.

 

In NO case were affiliates required to use an attorney.

 

Regarding your financial question, here's where I would strongly recommend the use of a tax advisor, especially if your books have not been audited in a while.  If the accounts are not set up according to the requirements of your State, your organization may face penalties.  THIS is where you need to spend some money, unless someone within the organization has the ability to do these tasks.

[Timothy]

I've been involved with several religious organizations (which falls in the 501 ( c ) 3 category) and I don't recall any of them getting the lawyers involved with their bylaws. It wouldn't hurt to get a lawyer involved, but unless the bylaws say that they can't be modified without a lawyer...

 

"not one party can benefit from the funds."

 

 

I'm guessing that has something to do with the prohibition of supporting a political candidate, but without reading the statute for myself (and no, I don't want to) I wouldn't know. And legal issues are outside the scope of this forum.

[Edgar Guest]

Many of our organization want to edit our bylaws . . .

 

When you make any changes to the bylaws you're amending (not "editing") them. The procedure for doing so should be found in the bylaws themselves, usually near the end.