AboutHarvey Mechanic Expertise Federal tax issues of nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charities only. Establishing and maintaining legal requirements for such non-profit organizations in the United States, including Internal Revenue service filings and requirements. I will not be working on this free forum to answer question about Nonprofit's Unrelated Business or how to fill out forms. This forum is only for legal questions about a specific nonprofit asked by members or those otherwise directly effected by the specific nonprofit organization.
Experience I have been practicing law and especially the law of nonprofit organizations since 1990 when I was admitted to the New York Bar.
Expert: Harvey Mechanic Date: 7/3/2008 Subject: Illegal/improper practices by Founder of 501c3
Question I was asked to be on a Board of Directors for a non-profit in the VP capacity and participated for about 6 months.
The non-profit was founded by a husband and wife and the wife ran everything. There were never any board meetings, I never met any other board members - except the founders.
I was not provided the Articles of Corp. or completed By-Law, there was no board meeting to vote on board members.
After several months of see that the founders were not following what was described in the draft by-laws, I resigned.
I was then called by them and told I was not taken off the 1023 form and other official docs that may have had my name.
By putting my name on their 1023 and telling people I was a board member, does that make me legally a board member? I think they are abusing the non-profit status for their own personal gain and don't want to be part of it, and can't get them to respond to my requests to take me off official docs.
Since there were never any board meetings, there are no minutes that reflect my concerns over the management of the organization.
I am hoping since non of this was done, I technically wasn't really a board member.
Answer Your story is somewhat confusing as you participated for about 6 months. This forum is only for federal tax questions regarding 501(c)(3) public charities as I have explained in my profile. Your question is an issue of state law and the answer may differ in different states as to who is a member of the Board. In any case, if you sent a written resignation from the Board and your position as VP you should not be liable after that point.
Harvey Mechanic
Attorney At Law
Harvey108@hotmail.com
