Nonprofit Law Made Easy

The ins and outs of law in the nonprofit sector—made easy!

Written by renowned author Bruce R. Hopkins, Nonprofit Law Made Easy is a must-read guide for executives, board members, officers, accountants, fundraisers, and others who handle legal issues that affect the way nonprofit organizations are formed and operated.

Nonprofit Law Made Easy presents in-depth discussions on such hot topics as acquiring and maintaining tax-exempt status, reporting requirements, charitable giving, disclosure requirements, unrelated business activities, fundraising, corporate governance principles, and board member liability. It also includes crucial information on avoiding nonprofit law traps and navigating governance and liability issues.

Packed with practical tips and hard-to-find, authoritative advice, Nonprofit Law Made Easy demystifies complex legal issues with plain-language explanations of laws and regulations for non-legal professionals.

The US is said to have some three million nonprofit organizations. A lawyer who has written several books on the legal aspects of managing tax-exempt organizations provides a guide that he regards as a complement to W. Ruppel's Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy (Wiley, 2002). After overviewing the philosophical rationale for forming a nonprofit and its organizational structure, Hopkins discusses the concept of tax- exempt status, subsidiaries (tax-exempt and for-profit), current and emerging Federal regulations, and potential legal traps (e.g. over-zealous lobbying). Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Bruce R. Hopkins is a lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, with the firm of Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus PC, having practiced law in Washington, D.C., for 26 years. He specializes in the representation of tax-exempt organizations. His practice ranges over the entirety of tax matters involving exempt organizations, with emphasis on the formation of nonprofit organizations, acquisition of recognition of tax-exempt status for them, the private inurement and private benefit doctrines, the intermediate sanctions rules, legislative and political campaign activities issues, public charity and private foundation rules, unrelated business planning, use of exempt and for-profit subsidiaries, joint venture planning, review of annual information returns, Internet communications developments, the law of charitable giving (including planned giving), and fundraising law issues.

Mr. Hopkins served as chair of the Committee on Exempt Organizations, Tax Section, American Bar Association; chair, Section of Taxation, National Association of College and University Attorneys; and president, Planned Giving Study Group of Greater Washington, D.C. He was accorded the Assistant Commissioner’s (IRS) Award in 1984.

Mr. Hopkins is the series editor of Wiley’s Nonprofit Law, Finance, and Management Series. In addition to Nonprofit Law Made Easy, he is the author of The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Eighth Edition; The Tax Law of Charitable Giving, Third Edition; The Law of Fundraising, Third Edition; 650 Essential Nonprofit Law Questions Answered; The Nonprofits’ Guide to Internet Communications Law; The Law of IntermediateSanctions: A Guide for Nonprofits; The First Legal Answer Book for Fund-Raisers; The Second Legal Answer Book for Fund-Raisers; The Legal Answer Book for Nonprofit Organizations; The Second Legal Answer Book for Nonprofit Organizations; The Nonprofit Law Dictionary; and Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, Fourth Edition.

In addition, Mr. Hopkins is the co-author, with Jody Blazek, of Private Foundations: Tax Law and Compliance, Second Edition; also with Ms. Blazek, The Legal Answer Book for Private Foundations; and with Thomas K. Hyatt, The Law of Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations, Second Edition. He also writes Bruce R. Hopkins’ Nonprofit Counsel, a monthly newsletter, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Mr. Hopkins earned his J.D. and L.L.M. degrees at the George Washington University and his B.A. at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and the state of Missouri.