Workshop: New Rules for Fiduciaries: Four Steps Beyond Sarbanes-Oxley

Posted by on April 30, 2007

DVG offers fiduciary training for board members

Delaware Valley Grantmakers is offering a workshop on New Rules for Fiduciaries: Four Steps Beyond Sarbanes-Oxley, on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 8:30-10:00 AM (breakfast available at 8:00) at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, 33rd and Market Streets, Pearlstein Business Learning Center, 4th Floor, Philadelphia. Funders and grantees are encouraged to attend. We encourage you to bring a grantee with you to this breakfast program.

This has already been quite an important year for the fiduciaries of not-for-profits. Since January 2007, several noteworthy incidents that have serious implications for our sector have been widely reported in the news media, including:
* The filing of a lawsuit by the Independence Seaport Museum against its former, long-time President and CEO, accusing him of defrauding it of $2.4 million.
* The indictment of a Pennsylvania State Senator, including two counts of obstruction of justice under the new criminal provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, alleging that he had defrauded a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, of $1 million by “persistently using funds and employees for personal and political benefit.”
* The release by the IRS of its Good Governance Practice for 501(c)(3) Organizations, a set of “voluntary compliance guidelines” that go well beyond the provisions of any federal tax law.
* The release by the IRS of its preliminary report on executive compensation, recommending excess benefits taxes aggregating more than $21 million against 40 individuals and requiring more than 30% of the organizations reviewed to revise their Form 990 tax information returns.

What do these four seemingly unrelated events mean for you? Pre-eminent nonprofit lawyer Donald Kramer of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads and Drexel University General Counsel and DVG member Tobey Oxholm will offer us their insights into the evolving expectations that government agencies and courts have for directors and members of the boards of nonprofit agencies.

This program is another in a series of “best practices” programs produced for the Philadelphia Non-Profit Community by Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and the Drexel University College of Law and are hosted by Ralph A. Walkling, Stratakis Chair in Corporate Governance and Executive Director, Center for Corporate Governance, LeBow College of Business.

Please register by May 4th by emailing kate@dvg.org.