The Nonprofits' Guide to Internet Communications Law [Hardcover]

Bruce R. Hopkins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047122278X | ISBN-13: 978-0471222781 | Publication Date: October 22, 2002 | Edition: 1

Invaluable guidance on the most important legal issues facing nonprofits today

Internet communication is the lifeblood of countless nonprofit organizations, yet there exists no specific law to provide for its regulation. Without solid legal guidance, nonprofits risk not only missing out on the unlimited opportunities that the Internet has to offer, but also jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. The Nonprofits' Guide to Internet Communications Law analyzes and explains the laws applicable to Internet communications by nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit law expert Bruce Hopkins writes that with Congress and government agencies reluctant to create new law, it will ultimately be up to the courts to determine the future of Internet law affecting nonprofit organizations. Extrapolating from the underlying principles of existing law, Hopkins addresses the legal ramifications of Internet business activities, charitable-giving administration, fundraising programs, lobbying, political campaign activities, and more.

The Nonprofits' Guide to Internet Communications Law proves an unparalleled resource for this emerging field.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The Internet provides tax-exempt organizations unlimited opportunities to publicize their message and generate funds. The lack of law or legal precedent governing Internet communication, however, can create a variety of legal entanglements for nonprofits seeking to take advantage of this critical medium. Understanding both the legal basics of Internet use, as well as how the traditional methods of fundraising, charitable giving, lobbying, and unrelated business activities can be carried out on the Internet, is critical for protecting an organization’s tax-exempt status.

The Nonprofits’ Guide to Internet Communications Law delivers thorough coverage of the need-to-know information that will dictate how nonprofits establish and use online resources. Nonprofit law expert Bruce Hopkins explains that Internet communication presents lawyers with a unique situation–there is almost no specific, existing law on which to base a practice. The logical tactic, then, is to extrapolate from the underlying principles of existing law and apply them to the Internet setting. Hopkins approaches a variety of Internet communications issues by explaining existing law, summarizing the pertinent issues concerning Internet communications by nonprofit organizations (aided in some instances by an extraordinary IRS announcement in 2000), then blending the two by musing on what the law pertaining to Internet communications by these organizations may and will be like. Specific issues covered include:

Administration of charitable-giving programs

Fundraising

Lobbying

Political campaign activities

Related and unrelated business activities

Hopkins also focuses on two broad points of contention on which all of the above topics may turn: the potential attribution of the content of one entity to another by Web site linkages, and the application of the primary purpose test (or, the interpretation of the word substantial) in fields such as unrelated business and lobbying. He forcefully argues that the former should be curbed and the latter should be significantly redefined, offering his vision for reasonable governance of Internet communications.

The greatest set of legal issues facing nonprofit organizations are those pertaining to Internet communications. The Nonprofits’ Guide to Internet Communications Law provides nonprofit administrators and their legal advisors a road map into this unchartered territory.

From the Back Cover

Invaluable guidance on the most important legal issues facing nonprofits today

Internet communication is the lifeblood of countless nonprofit organizations, yet there exists no specific law to provide for its regulation. Without solid legal guidance, nonprofits risk not only missing out on the unlimited opportunities that the Internet has to offer, but also jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. The Nonprofits’ Guide to Internet Communications Law analyzes and explains the laws applicable to Internet communications by nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit law expert Bruce Hopkins writes that with Congress and government agencies reluctant to create new law, it will ultimately be up to the courts to determine the future of Internet law affecting nonprofit organizations. Extrapolating from the underlying principles of existing law, Hopkins addresses the legal ramifications of Internet business activities, charitable-giving administration, fundraising programs, lobbying, political campaign activities, and more.

The Nonprofits’ Guide to Internet Communications Law proves an unparalleled resource for this emerging field.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047122278X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471222781
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,927,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce R. Hopkins is a lawyer who divides his time between the writing of books and his monthly newsletter, and the practice of law.

He is a senior partner in the law firm of Polsinelli Shughart PC, practicing in the firm's Kansas City, Missouri, and Washington, D.C., offices. He specializes in the representation of nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations. His practice ranges over the entirety of law matters involving exempt organizations, with emphasis on the formation of nonprofit organizations, acquisition of recognition of tax-exempt status for them, governance and the law, 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, tax shelter involvement, review of annual information returns, Internet communications developments, the law of charitable giving (including planned giving), and fundraising law issues.

Mr. Hopkins is the series editor of John Wiley & Sons' Nonprofit Law, Finance, and Management Series. He is the author (or, in some instances, co-author) of 26 books that are currently on the market. His first book, The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, was first published in 1975. His most recent book, Fundraising Law Made Easy, was published in 2009. He writes a monthly newsletter, Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel. All of these publications are published by John Wiley & Sons.

He received the 2007 Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award (Vanguard Lifetime Achievement Award) from the American Bar Association, Section of Business Law, Committee on Nonprofit Organizations. He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America," Nonprofit Organizations/Charities Law, 2007-2010.

He participates in many conferences and seminars, including those sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Texas, PESI, AICPA, Salk Institute, and Loyola University (Los Angeles).

He maintains the Nonprofit Law Center, accessible at www.nonprofitlawcenter.com.

He earned his J.D. and LL.M. degrees at the George Washington University National Law Center, 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.