well, I wrote quite a disertation, but this crappy wannabe-board ate it.
In short:
a non-profit is a corporation. it issues stock, which you can hold all of. this means that you have absolute control of it.
like any other corp, it has officers, including mandatory roles (usually according to state): President, Treasurer, & Secretary. If desired, usually, this can be two physical people (President and Secretary), with Treasurer played by one of the other two.
like any other corp, it will have a board of directors. I believe you can have a single director who is also the sole shareholder in most states for a non-profit, but I’m not certain about that.
If it’s your desire to create a real charity which does real good, I suggest you take a different tack and go out of your way to give away control. Go find lots of people who will give time and money to your cause and give them a bit of control in return. Otherwise it’ll never grow into anything.
Argh, I misspoke above: Most states allow a single person to be both the sole Director, the President and the Secretary for a non-profit.
And if you do involve other people, technically here’s how it works: the shareholders elect the directors, the directors appoint the officers, and the officers run the non-profit.
As the sole shareholder, you’ll initially recruit and assign roles as needed. And as the sole shareholder, you can add, remove or replace anyone at will.
What??? I’ve been on the board of several non-profits. None issued stock. Where did you get that?
It is usually a requirement that a non-profit have a board of directors of some sort. No one on the board can be paid a salary by the nonprofit.
The boards of directors are chosen in various way, but most commonly by a vote of membership. The rules of how they get elected and how they serve are laid out in the non-profit’s bylaws.
Now, you can set up a nonprofit where you are the head of the Board of Directors, but they can outvote you, and you can’t be paid a salary as part of the position. Ultimate control of the nonprofit lies with the Board of Directors.
Bill, no. Nonprofits most certainly do not issue stock. That’s the point of being a non-profit. There are no shareholders to which a profit is given. All profits must be reinvested back into the organization or the organization’s mission.
A quick look through www.guidestar.org shows a considerable amount of charities where board members are paid a salary. If you’re wondering if a particular non-profit pays their board members, just ask for their 990s.
Gadzooks was I wrong! And I’m on the board of a couple of non-profits; you’d think I’d have known better. Non-profits do not issue stock almost by definition.
However the other stuff I said was correct: If you want to, you can set yourself up as the sole Director in the by-laws, and maintain control. Although again, I recommend you bring in strong people and give up some control.