Spring is in the air, making April a great month to carry out the legal housekeeping for your local nonprofits and authorities.

Every county has an industrial authority (whether you know it or not). Most cities and towns will have a housing authority (sometimes whether you know it or not). Did you ever create a nonprofit corporation to facilitate a financing? It’s worthwhile, at least once a year, to make sure these entities are in good shape from a legal perspective. Can you still locate all the board members—did anyone pass away or move to some far-away land?

Spend some time in April on reviewing the bylaws and other governing documents, making any required filings with the Secretary of State’s office, and holding any required annual meetings. It’s easier to get these entities in good shape on your own timetable, rather than scrambling when all of a sudden you need one. Especially for nonprofits, it’s much easier to keep your nonprofit in good shape than to get it back in shape if it falls into legal disrepair.

On a related note, think about providing in the bylaws for any of your controlled nonprofits that the local elected board can remove and appoint directors—that way you have some readily-available mechanism to reconstitute a board that has lost its members.