Guest Kelly Crown Posted March 5, 2015 at 07:04 AM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 07:04 AM I read the Board minutes are not public record or have to be made public or regulated. Is this true? Can anyone request our minutes, so we have to provide them if it is not the IRS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kelly Crown Posted March 5, 2015 at 07:12 AM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 07:12 AM 501 3 c non profit organization. We have a person demanding to see our minutes. Does she have the right? She has been trying to cause trouble for our organization. Claims we are a non profit and wehve to let her see our minutes, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted March 5, 2015 at 12:26 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 12:26 PM As far as RONR is concerned only members of the body for which the minutes were created have a right to inspect them. However, since the organization has non-profit status members of the public may or may not have any right to see the minutes so you should talk to a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted March 5, 2015 at 12:55 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 12:55 PM Claims we are a non profit and we have to let her see our minutes, etc. Ask her to show you the rule or law which supports her claim. (Hint: she won't be able to find it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 5, 2015 at 03:15 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 03:15 PM I read the Board minutes are not public record or have to be made public or regulated. Is this true? Can anyone request our minutes, so we have to provide them if it is not the IRS?I agree with what the other posters have said. As far as RONR, it makes it pretty clear that the minutes need to be made available only to members. Here is what it says about one of the duties of the secretary on page 459: "To make the minutes and records available to members upon request (see p. 460, ll. 13–17)." And on page 460: "Any member has a right to examine these reports and the record book(s) referred to on page 459, lines 13–16, including the minutes of an executive session, at a reasonable time and place, but this privilege must not be abused to the annoyance of the secretary. The same principle applies to records kept by boards and committees, these being accessible to members of the boards or committees but to no others (but see p. 487, ll. 13–20)." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby101 Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:19 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:19 PM I sent this post earlier this morning but it has not yet appeared. So, I'm re-sending. If the club's written by-laws call for the minutes to be recorded and posted on the bulletin board by the club's secretary (ours do), I assume this addresses the question raised our guest. If they don't, I think it's a good practice to include it in the by-laws. How else can an involved member be aware of what's really going on within an organization? We've had enough trouble at our club because certain boards have ignored/broken the by-laws and have been caught out by interested members reading the minutes and calling the boards on it. Maybe it's somewhat like these private email accounts that we're currently reading about. bobby101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:30 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:30 PM Bobby, your post (and your organization's practice of posting the minutes on a club bulletin board) does not answer guest Kelly's question about whether the minutes of the organization are "public records"..... meaning available to members of the public who are not members of the organization. She is clearly referring to a non-member insisting on seeing the minutes. The minutes of an organization are available to the members of the organization and must be approved at every meeting of the organization. Minutes of a board or committee are available only to the members of that board or committee unless the organization has adopted a rule or a motion to the contrary. Whether an organization wants to adopt a policy of requiring that the minutes of the general membership or the board be posted or distributed to all members is a judgment call for the members of that organization to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:36 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 04:36 PM I sent this post earlier this morning but it has not yet appeared. So, I'm re-sending. If the club's written by-laws call for the minutes to be recorded and posted on the bulletin board by the club's secretary (ours do), I assume this addresses the question raised our guest. If they don't, I think it's a good practice to include it in the by-laws. How else can an involved member be aware of what's really going on within an organization? We've had enough trouble at our club because certain boards have ignored/broken the by-laws and have been caught out by interested members reading the minutes and calling the boards on it. Maybe it's somewhat like these private email accounts that we're currently reading about. bobby101 Your previous post was deleted because it was irrelevant to the question asked (as is this one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kelly Crown Posted March 5, 2015 at 09:17 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 09:17 PM Thank you so much. I will let our Board know. She has been harassing our founder, a 74 year old man, he's so tired. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kelly Posted March 5, 2015 at 09:21 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 at 09:21 PM Richard, Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kelly Posted May 1, 2015 at 11:21 PM Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 at 11:21 PM I took your advice, I received this and she says she will sue us. According to IRS Publication 557: As a designated 501©(3) corporation, you have a legal requirement to provide the public with certain documentation and accountability upon request. If the request is made in person, the organization must make the copies available on the same business day unless there are unusual circumstances as provided for in the IRS regulations section 301.6104(d)-1(d)(1)(ii). Written requests must be met within 30 days. Any 501©(3) is allowed to charge a reasonable cost for copying. There is a $20.00/ day penalty that is assessed for failure to provide public inspection. Willful failure can subject the organization to a fine of $5,000.00. According to AB 1233, which became effective JANUARY 1, 2010, nonprofit corporations may not have non-voting Directors. Director's votes cannot be made by proxy. Now, I am not sure what any of this means. she says she has the right to view our minutes, we are slandering her and not allowing her to participate in events and that we are a non profit and are mandated to do so. What do I do? What does al this mean? Thank you everyone for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:01 AM Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:01 AM What do I do? since the organization has non-profit status ... you should talk to a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kelly Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:17 AM Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:17 AM I am asking if I should respond, does she have any legal recourse? What does mean as in what she states the IRS says. Do we need to provide this or not? She wrote: According to IRS Publication 557: As a designated 501©(3) corporation, you have a legal requirement to provide the public with certain documentation and accountability upon request. If the request is made in person, the organization must make the copies available on the same business day unless there are unusual circumstances as provided for in the IRS regulations section 301.6104(d)-1(d)(1)(ii). Written requests must be met within 30 days. Any 501©(3) is allowed to charge a reasonable cost for copying. There is a $20.00/ day penalty that is assessed for failure to provide public inspection. Willful failure can subject the organization to a fine of $5,000.00. ... We do not want her at our functions and she states that we are a non profit and are legally bound to be public. Is this true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:42 AM Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 at 12:42 AM I can't speak to what IRS regulations say so again I suggest you talk to a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted May 2, 2015 at 02:37 AM Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 at 02:37 AM Kelly, we cannot give you legal advice here. Our responses to questions are limited to provisions in RONR. Giving legal (or accounting) advice is outside the scope of this forum. I have recently heard of a local organization going through what you are with someone insisting on seeing the records of the organization based, supposedly, on an IRS regulation. It is a matter that we simply cannot give advice on. You might try calling the IRS to try to get more information, but I hear that the wait times are extremely lengthy now. I personally never rely on what the first person I talk to at the IRS tells me. If it's something important, I always call back to see if I get the same answer from a different agent. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But, even their advice is not binding. It may help you narrow down the question for an attorney, accountant or tax lawyer, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kelly Posted May 2, 2015 at 05:27 AM Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 at 05:27 AM Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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