For just shy of eight years, I wrote a column for The News Tribune on nonprofit topics. Many of the columns focused on governance, so we’ll be reprinting selected ones from time to time. Originally published March 8, 2006
Several people have asked me lately if nonprofit board meetings are subject to the requirements of the open meetings laws. While I’m not an attorney, I believe the answer is no. Our boards are not required by law to make sure our meetings are announced to the general public or to welcome anyone who wishes to attend (unless specific funding sources require adherence to the Open Meetings Law). That’s the legal side of the issue.
The disturbing side of the issue is that there are those who believe it is fine for nonprofit board meetings to be closed to all but board members. Don’t let clients attend. No donors. No organizational members. Keep the doors closed and don’t share information is their apparent philosophy.
Wrong!
While the law doesn’t tell us we must open our meetings, our sense of who we are and the foundations on which we are built should make it clear. All nonprofits exist because of the generosity of the community, and we owe our communities the highest degree of accountability and transparency possible. We must not hide.
Here’s the fundamental fact. We, as nonprofits, agree to provide a community service – our charitable purpose. In exchange, the community, through the IRS, tells us we do not have to pay federal income tax on our revenue and allows people who contribute to us to take a tax deduction. That’s the deal on which all 501(c)(3) nonprofits are founded. It is what I call a Charitable Compact.
Implicit in that Compact is that we honor the relationship with our community by being honest and open in all our dealings. The community has a right to know what we do and how we do it. There are, of course, situations when meetings need to be closed (discussion of personnel issues and major capital purchase plans, for example). But that’s it.
Because too many nonprofit leaders have been unwilling to be open and accountable, federal and state government officials are pushing for new nonprofit regulatory legislation. Because of actions of some “bad apples,” donor distrust is growing at alarming rates. We must change that environment. We must be open and accountable – there is no other way for a nonprofit to behave.
