In a recent issue you stated that a social entrepreneur can structure a nonprofit so that he or she can control it. I teach a How to Start a Nonprofit course and have stated exactly the opposite. Can you explain what you mean?
The entrepreneur can structure the organization as a membership corporation and serve as the sole member, with the power to appoint and remove the Board. (See Ready Reference Page, The Key Question: Whose Organization is it?) There are a lot of commentators who object to this concept, but it is accepted by the IRS and, in our view, can be important to protect the entrepreneur who anticipates that the organization will be a life’s work and the vision of the entrepreneur without whom the concept will not be implemented. (See Ready Reference Page: "Sole Member Bylaws Can Protect Founder of Nonprofit")
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