Who decides whether a member of a nonprofit membership corporation has violated the association’s rules to the extent that he should be expelled from the group?

A lawyer who arranged the transfer of settlement funds in a class action case into an endowment at St. John’s University in Minnesota has no standing to contest the University’s alleged failure to comply with conditions of the gift under the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds (“UPMIFA”), a state appellate court has ruled. It is the lawyer’s second defeat in trying to enforce guidelines for administering a Fellowship in Ethics that he had negotiated with the University.

A trustee and personal representative of the estate of the settlor of a trust has standing to enforce the terms of a charitable gift from the trust, an appellate court in Michigan has ruled.  It has reversed a trial court decision denying standing to the trustee.

Anthony DeFrancesco is a long-time employee of the Houston Astros baseball organization and in 2017 was manager of its AAA minor league affiliate.  After the Astros won the 2017 World Series, the Astros gave him a bonus of $28,151.26.

DeFrancisco was in the process of a divorce and the question arose whether the bonus was considered community property to be divided with his wife.  His wife claimed that it was.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has held that the George Mason University Foundation, a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization raising and holding private donations for the benefit of George Mason University, is not a “public body” subject to the state’s Freedom of Information Act.  It has affirmed a trial court denying access to donor information concerning gifts from foundations associated with the Koch brothers.

A “friends of the library” in Oregon is a charitable organization, but its bookstore is not exempt from real estate tax because the primary use of the property is for the sale of used books, which is not a charitable activity, the Oregon Tax Court has ruled.  It has affirmed a Magistrate Division decision denying exemption to a property utilized by The New Friends of the Beaverton City Library to raise funds for the Library.

How does the federal Volunteer Protection Act relate to a state law claim for unpaid wages?  The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has had the opportunity to spell out the relationship in a recent case involving claims by employees of a dissolved community health center against the volunteer chair of the board.

The head of a private family foundation has been convicted of failing to pay federal income tax on the value of scholarships paid by the foundation for tuition for his children.  The charges were among several that caused James L. Wright to be sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to make restitution of $146,404.