NYCLA ISSUES REPORT ON NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATE BOARD BEST PRACTICES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia – 212-267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NYCLA ISSUES REPORT ON NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATE BOARD BEST PRACTICES

 

APRIL 24, 2007 – NEW YORK, NY – The New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) has issued a report recommending a series of best practices that Not-For-Profit (NFP) corporate boards may consider implementing in order to comply with “ever increasing regulatory scrutiny” of state regulators. The report, titled “NFP Corporate Board Best Practices Report,” was written by NYCLA’s Task Force on Corporate Governance, which has been examining “best practices” in the NFP sector and seeking to educate the legal community, non-profit volunteers and staff and the general public on issues confronting those who work for or represent NFPs.

 

Last year, Edwin David Robertson, NYCLA President, charged the Task Force with creating a resource for NFP Boards after a series of scandals involving such not-for-profits as the American Red Cross, New York Stock Exchange, Inc. and various 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina charities. The Task Force, which is chaired by Ernest E. Badway, a NYCLA Board member and partner with Saiber Schlesinger Satz & Goldstein, LLC, studied NFP corporate governance controls and structures and recommended best practices for NFP boards including:

• Discuss and adopt bylaws to, among other things, avoid conflicts of interest.

• Adopt a policy addressing conflicts of interest among directors that includes disclosure, recusal and memorialization in the written minutes of the board meeting.

• Avoid transactions with directors or situations in which directors could, either directly or indirectly, benefit from the contract or transaction being contemplated by the NFP.

• Adopt by laws containing procedures with respect to election of directors, notice of board meetings, the number of consecutive board terms and other integral NFP corporate governance issues.

• Establish an audit committee, comprising independent directors, to review all NFP financial operations as well as its interactions with accountants and auditors.

 

The “Not-for-Profit Corporate Board Best Practices Report” will be disseminated among bar associations and NFPs throughout New York.

 

The New York County Lawyers’ Association (www.nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual identity. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

Please Note: A copy of the Report is available on NYCLA’s website. Log on to www.nycla.org and scroll down to the News section of the homepage.

 

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