Staten Island Arts

Books are filled with great advice, but there are so many titles! Which offer valuable information for you? We’ve started this new series of short book reports to share some of our favorites.

Nonprofits are businesses, and like any business there are legal issues and  obligations that must be dealt with. But nonprofits, especially small & newly formed nonprofits,  often don’t have the financial resources to have a general counsel on call to help them with issues they might be coming up against.

Enter Lesley Rosenthal, musician, author, and legal counsel for Lincoln Center.  She has written a book for Executive Directors, board members, and anyone else who wants to learn more about the legal obligations and liabilities of nonprofit organizations.

Okay, I’ll admit this sounds a bit dry, but Ms. Rosenthal has created an easy to understand guide for those of us who have a passion for our mission, but not a background in law. Covering everything from tax-exempt status to human resources, Good Counsel allows you to quickly learn what you should be thinking about, then guides you  through what specific questions you should be asking, and offers a step-by-step work plan that you can use (with a lawyer or supervised law student) to get your nonprofit on track.

At $80, this book isn’t cheap. However, when you consider the cost of getting into legal hot water, the book is a bargain. It’s also an indispensable tool for nonprofits.