Table of Contents
Articles
Introduction: "Codes of Conduct for Partnership in Governance: Texts and Commentaries"
By Tatsuro Kunugi and Martha Schweitz
On the Establishment of Social Organizations Under Chinese Law
By Ge Yunsong
Australia's Nonprofit Taxation Reforms
By Myles McGregor-Lowndes
Reviews
Codes of Conduct for Partnerships in Governance: Text and Comments
Edited by Tatsuro Kunugi and Martha Schweitz
Reviewed by Catherine Shea
Case Notes
Central and Eastern Europe: Croatia | Poland | Serbia
Middle East and North Africa: Egypt
Newly Independent States: Azerbaijan
North America:
the United States
South Asia:
India
Country Reports
Asia Pacific:
Australia | East Timor |
New Zealand | the Philippines | Vietnam
Central and Eastern Europe: Regional | Kosovo | Romania
Latin America:
Regional | Belize | Brazil | Venezuela
Newly Independent States:
Russia | Ukraine
Middles East and North Africa: Sudan
North America:
Canada | Mexico |
the United States
South Asia:
India
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Cameroon | Kenya |
Sierra Leone | South Africa | Tanzania | Zimbabwe
Western Europe:
France | Germany |
the United Kingdom
Self Governance
Law and Governance-- A Lesson in Limits
By Leon Irish and Karla Simon
Trends in Self-Regulation and Transparency of Nonprofits in the U.S.
By Robert O. Bothwell
The Role of Governing Boards in Fostering Accountability
By Crispin Gregoire
Financial Implications Affecting Nonprofit Nongovernmental Organizations Today
By Michael A. Freedman
International Grantmaking
Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations in Canada: A Canadian Lawyer Provides a Plain Language Primer
By Blake Bromley
Community Philanthropy
Community Philanthropy Initiative of the European Foundation Centre
Transatlantic Community Foundation Network
New Website Buergerstiftung.de
Partnerships
General | Brazil | Kenya | Russia
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Letter from the Editors
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the March 2000 issue of IJNL! We are pleased to be able once again to present a diverse issue that covers legal and fiscal developments affecting NGOs in over 25 countries, located on all continents and in all regions of the world.
Looking over the issue, there are several themes that should be of interest to our readers:
- Freedom of association. In a case note from the United States, we feature a discussion of a case pending in the Supreme Court that considers the conditions under which large membership organizations may discriminate against proposed members on the basis of their sexual orientation.
- Self-regulation. In a special section devoted to this topic we feature four papers that were presented at the ARNOVA conference held in November 1999. These papers address legal, accounting, and board governance aspects of self-regulation, and each is written by experts in the field. In addition, the subject of NGO Codes of Conduct is discussed in a book review of a new book on the subject published by the U.N. University (and an excerpt from that book is also made available to our readers).
- New “NGO” laws. In both Cameroon and Belize the government has developed special legislation affecting “NGOs,” which is a catch-all phrase used to describe organizations engaged in various development activities. Our report on Cameroon considers the new legislation adopted in December 2000. Our report on Belize looks at proposed legislation, which was the subject of an online discussion group sponsored by ICNL and ANDA, the Association of National Development Associations in Belize. A similar approach to legislation is being developed in the Dominican Republic and Tanzania.
- Public benefit definition. In New Zealand, Germany, and France the definition of “public benefit” is being reconsidered. In Central and Eastern Europe a process is moving forward toward the development of “model” legislation on public benefit organizations, which is expected to culminate in a regional conference in Sofia, Bulgaria in mid-May.
- Reporting. A report issued by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation of the United States Congress concerns the question of how much reporting is appropriate for US not-for-profit, tax exempt organizations. Because of the importance of this issue in almost every country, these developments in the U.S. bear watching.
In addition, we are featuring two new departments in this issue, one on “Community Philanthropy,” and the other on “Partnerships.” In the latter we include ICNL’s latest publication on the subject, written by Program Manager Caroline Newman. In her long, comparative study, she addresses the type of legislative environment that is conducive to the sustainability of partnerships among the government, business, and NGO sectors. This important new development paradigm stands alongside Community Philanthropy as an innovative approach to solving social problems with a community-centered perspective.
Beginning with this issue, the Journal will include a “Letters to the Editor” section. By providing a convenient forum in which readers may submit comments, criticisms and reflections, we hope to reinforce our conception of the Journal as an interactive platform for discussion of issues having to do with the “enabling environment.” Recently we have hosted two bulletin board discussions of pending legislation, and they have worked well as mechanisms to encourage comparative perspectives on current issues.
In this issue we have included a new, more interactive approach to encourage publishable letters from our readers – if you click on the “Letters to the Editors” department, you will access an online form, which you can fill in and send off to us with the click of your mouse. While we are of course interested in receiving conventional email or snail mail letters, we hope that this new facility will encourage you to use the Journal as an online forum for discussion. We will also continue to update you through the web site about other online discussion activities.
Best regards,
Karla Simon and Lee Irish, General Editors