What Are the Key Characteristics of a Nonprofit Corporation?
In its helpful ebook, Get Ready, Get Set, the California Management Assistance Partnership provides a list of key characteristics of nonprofits from their purpose to their accountability. Purpose Many people think that nonprofit means that the organization cannot make a profit. This is not true. In order to survive, nonprofit organizations must ensure that there is a surplus of revenues over expenses. We use the term nonprofit because these organizations are not set up for the sole purpose of making a profit. Rather, they pursue public benefit purposes that are recognized under federal and state law. What makes an organization a nonprofit is that: • its mission is to undertake activities whose goal is not primarily for profit • no person owns shares of the corporation or interests in its property • the property and income of the nonp
