Legal Guidelines for Non-Profit Organizations

This project will produce a set of guidelines for non-profit organizations. The guidelines, in the form of a FAQ (frequently asked questions) document, will provide groups with the basic information regarding registering their organization as a non-profit.
This project in collaboration with the Center for Democracy and Humanity and Institute for Nonprofit Development at Mount Wachusett Community College. When the project is complete, the guidelines will become property of the Center and Institute.
In addition, the project will include a symposium, at a time to be determined, where community members can learn more about non-profit registration and related legal matters. The symposium will be jointly sponsored by the MWCC Legal Studies Department and Center for Democracy and Humanity and Institute for Nonprofit Development.

FAQ

The FAQ document will include topics such as the following:

• What is a non-profit organization?
• Why should we register our organization as a non-profit?
• Do we have to get a lawyer?
• What are the advantages?
• What are the risks?
• Doesn't registration mean a lot of paperwork?
• What if we don't register?
• How much work is involved in registering?
• How much does it cost?
• What do we have to do to keep our non-profit status?
• What forms to we have to prepare and where do we find them?

Many more questions and answers will be included as the project evolves.
The writing style should be conversational and written for an audience that has little or no direct experience with legal matters. When legal terms or concepts are required, I will include a definition and/or source for additional information.

Project activities

The requirements of the practicum stipulate that the student must work a total of 120 hours or, approximately, 10 hours per week for 12 weeks. The entries in this blog will include a record of my activities as well as a repository for artifacts and other reference sources.

Project achedule

Milestone	Date	Notes
Project Start	September7	Some work, such as this journal, will start earlier.
Project Review 1	September 21	Update project plan. Update FAQ
Project Review 2	October 5	First draft of FAQ
Project Review 3	November 2	Second draft of FAQ
Project Presentation	November TBD	Symposium and/or presentation of materials to public
Project Completion	December 9	Final version of FAQ

Research methods

Material for the FAQ and presentations will be gathered from the following:

• Interviews with attorneys and others with experience in non-profit registration in Massachusetts
• Online research with the Internal Revenue Service and the Massachusetts Secretary of State and Attorney General web sites.
• Online research with Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, and other professional legal reference resources. (Wikipedia may be used to provide some general background information, but will not be cited as a source.)
• Relevant legal practice and reference books.

Additional information

I will continue to update my blog on paralegal topics, Parallel Eagles, and may cross-reference or duplicate material between the sites.