nonprofit governance Archives - Gordon Fischer Law Firm

By Gordon Fischer

May 9, 2026

The Indiana Fever lost their season opener today, 107-104, to the Dallas Wings. Close game. Kelsey Mitchell put up 30. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 22. Caitlin Clark missed a potential game-tying three at the buzzer that rimmed out. And during the same game, Clark quietly became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 1,000 points, 250 rebounds, and 250 assists. So, you know, a lot happening in one afternoon.

But here is what stuck with me, and what I want to write about. Clark looked uncomfortable for stretches of the game. Several times she went back to the tunnel for treatment, came back out, played, went back again. This is the same player who exited the preseason home opener early with a knee scare just over a week ago. She was cleared to play today, and she did play, and she played hard, and she nearly tied it at the end. So this is not a “should she have been out there” post. The Fever’s medical and training staff are professionals. Clark is a professional. Together, they made the call.

This is something I see in nonprofit work all the time, and yet it almost never gets talked about directly. The people running your organization are going “to play hurt.” Sometimes literally! More often, figuratively. How your board and your organization handle such issues is one of the quiet tests of governance.

The “play through it” instinct

Elite athletes are wired to play through things. So are good executive directors. So are good board chairs. So are most of the people who end up in nonprofit leadership in the first place. They care, the mission is real, the stakes feel enormous, and there is always one more thing to do. Nobody volunteers to lead an Iowa nonprofit because they are looking for an easy gig.

The trouble is that “play through it” without a structure around it becomes “burn out and quit,” or worse, “burn out and stay resentful for another two years.” I have watched it happen. The ED who hasn’t taken a real vacation in three years. The board chair who is also chairing the capital campaign and also serving on the audit committee. The treasurer who is doing the bookkeeping because the part-time bookkeeper left in October and nobody got around to replacing her. They are all going back to the tunnel between possessions, and they are all telling themselves they are fine.

What the training staff is for

Here is the part I want Iowa nonprofit boards to think about. Clark has a training staff. They watched her in warmups. They watched her in the first quarter. They pulled her back when something looked off. They cleared her when she was ready. They will look at film tonight and they will be in her ear tomorrow morning. That is the job, and the job is constant.

Your nonprofit’s “training staff” is your governance structure. It is the chair checking in with the ED in a real way, not just “how are things going” at the top of the board meeting. It is the executive committee paying attention to whether the ED has used any vacation. It is the audit committee actually asking the treasurer, “is this still working for you, or do we need to hire somebody?” It is the personnel committee making sure the staff handbook has reasonable PTO and that people are taking it. It is the board having an honest annual conversation about whether the chair, the ED, and the key committee chairs are sustainable in their roles, or whether the role itself needs to be split, or whether somebody on the bench needs to start getting minutes.

None of this is glamorous, and very little of it shows up meaningfully on a 990. But it is the difference between a team that can absorb a bad night and one where a single tweaked something becomes a season-ending problem.

The governance test

So a question for your next board meeting, sometime in the next month, ideally on the agenda and not in the parking lot afterward: who on our team has been going back to the tunnel? The ED who is “fine” but has not taken a Friday off since January? The board chair who told you in March she was tired? The development director carrying two open positions on her team? Name them. Then ask the harder question: what are we, as the people who actually have authority over this, going to do about it?

That is governance. Not the policy binder, not the 990, not the strategic plan on the shared drive. The thing where the people in charge notice that a key player keeps walking back to the tunnel, and they actually do something about it before the buzzer-beater rims out.

One more thing

A close loss in May is not the end of anything. The Fever play Wednesday at the Sparks. They have a season ahead of them. Caitlin Clark just made history, in a loss, while uncomfortable, and she will be on a plane to Los Angeles in a couple of days. That is what professionals do.

What I am asking is that you treat the people running your nonprofit with the same seriousness that the Fever treats Caitlin Clark. Watch them. Build the structure around them. Pull them out when they need to come out. Put them back in when they are ready. And build a bench, like we talked about in previous posts, so that nobody on your team has to play 40 minutes a night for 44 games.

If you are on the board of an Iowa nonprofit and somebody on your team has been going back to the tunnel a little too often this year, I offer a genuine free one-hour consultation to any Iowa nonprofit. No strings, no catch, no pitch at the end.

📧 Email: gordon@gordonfischerlawfirm.com. Tell me who on your team needs a
breather, and what’s keeping them from getting one. We’ll work on it together.

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On Indiana Fever opening day, Iowa nonprofit lawyer Gordon Fischer shares twenty-two (22) governance lessons every Iowa nonprofit can learn from Caitlin Clark — from Articles and Bylaws to DEI and Social Media Policies.

May 9, 2026

By Gordon Fischer

Today at noon Iowa time, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever open the 2026 WNBA season against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. First game. Fresh start. New season.

I am PUMPED.

Last season was rough. A groin injury. An ankle sprain. Two separate quad strains. Just thirteen (13) regular-season games for Clark. And yet a Fever team carrying that injury list still pushed the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces to five (5) games in the semifinals. They went down swinging in overtime in Game Five. They earned every minute of this offseason.

And here is where I am going to make a turn that will surprise no one who reads this blog.

Iowa nonprofits, that was a lot of you, too.

Federal funding has wobbled. State funding has wobbled. Tax and regulatory expectations have kept changing. DEI has been under intense pressure. Long-time leaders have retired. Donor bases have aged. Many of you have spent the past twelve (12) to eighteen (18) months absorbing hits while still showing up for your communities. You are healthier now than you were six (6) months ago. You are ready to think about what the next year looks like. Clark wears number twenty-two (22). She wears it because she was born on January 22, 2002, and the number followed her from Iowa to Indiana like a second name.

So in honor of opening day, here are twenty-two (22) lessons your Iowa nonprofit lawyer has learned watching Caitlin Clark — first at Iowa, now in Indiana — and how each one applies to the Iowa nonprofits I have spent thirty (30) years working with, from Atlantic and Belle Plaine to Williamsburg and Zwingle and everywhere in between.

Twenty-two (22) is her start. Let it be your start, too.

PART ONE: PREPARATION (Lessons #1–#5)

Clark was playing in boys’ rec leagues at age five (5) because her dad could not find a girls’ league. She was playing several years up by age thirteen (13). The work was done before the spotlight ever arrived.

For your nonprofit, the equivalent of those early-morning gym sessions is your Articles of Incorporation and your Bylaws, adopted by your board. The legal foundation that makes everything else possible. If yours were copied from another organization, copied from another state, or last touched a decade ago, you are playing on a cracked court.

Lesson #2. Read the rulebook before tip-off.

Clark did not show up to her first WNBA game and discover the three-point line was a different distance.

Pros know the rules cold.

Iowa nonprofits operate under Iowa Code Chapter 504, the Revised Iowa Nonprofit Corporation Act. Federal tax-exempt nonprofits operate under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Every officer and director should know what those two (2) bodies of law expect. Not memorize them. Know they exist, know what they cover, and know who to call when a question comes up.

Lesson #3. The playbook lives in writing.

Coaches do not run plays from memory. They draw them up. They write them down. They review them before the game and during it.

Your nonprofit’s playbook is your Bylaws, supported by your full set of governance policies. If your board cannot point to where it says how meetings are called, how votes are counted, or how officers are elected, you are running plays from memory. That works fine until it doesn’t.

Lesson #4. Conditioning matters more than highlight reels.

The reason Clark could play forty (40) minutes in the WNBA semifinals is the same reason she could play forty (40) minutes in the Big Ten Tournament — years of cardio, weights, film study, and rest. Highlight reels happen because conditioning happened first.

Conditioning for a nonprofit is your Financial Policies and Procedures. Who approves spending. Who signs checks above what amount. Who reconciles the bank account. Who is allowed to make a wire transfer. Boring, repetitive, every single day. And if you do not have it, you may not survive a hard year.

Lesson #5. Know the season schedule before the season starts.

The Fever’s 2026 schedule was published months ago. Forty-four (44) games. Every tip-off. Every opponent. For your nonprofit, the equivalent is your IRS Form 990 Review Policy – knowing when Form 990 is due, who prepares it, who reviews it, and how the board signs off before it is filed. Form 990 is a public document. Major donors read it. Foundations read it. Reporters read it. Treat it like a championship game and prepare accordingly.

PART TWO: ACCOUNTABILITY (Lessons #6–#10)

Iowa basketball did not get Iowa basketball by hoping. It got there by being honest about what was working and what was not.

Lesson #6. Disclose conflicts before someone else discloses them for you.

When Clark signs a name, image, and likeness deal, it gets disclosed. Publicly. Up front. Your nonprofit needs the same instinct, captured in a Conflict of Interest Policy. A board member with a financial stake in a vendor. An officer whose spouse runs a competing organization. A donor whose family business is up for a contract. None of these is automatically a problem. All of these are automatically problems if there is no policy, and they remain undisclosed.

Lesson #7. Pay people fairly and write down how you decided.

WNBA salaries are public. So are nonprofit executive salaries. Your Compensation Policy explains how your board decides what to pay people, what comparability data it uses, and how conflicts are handled when the board sets executive pay. Donors, regulators, and your own staff can all read your Form 990. Make sure the answers add up.

Lesson #8. Protect the people who tell the truth.

Every team needs the player who will say “that play isn’t working.” Every nonprofit needs the staff member or volunteer who will say “that grant report doesn’t match what we actually did.” Federal law makes it a crime to retaliate against someone who reports suspected wrongdoing to law enforcement. A Whistleblower Policy creates a clear, trusted internal process for raising concerns and explicitly protects people who come forward in good faith. If your nonprofit does not have one, the people who notice the problems may stay quiet.

Lesson #9. Decide which gifts you will accept before someone offers one you cannot refuse.

Caitlin Clark won’t accept just any endorsement. She has standards, contracts, and people who help her say no. Your nonprofit needs the same instinct in writing — a Gift Acceptance Policy. This is the document that lets you politely decline a piece of contaminated real estate, a closely held business interest with no buyer, or the well meaning donor who wants to give you a racehorse. (Yes, that has actually come up.)

Lesson #10. Know what is public and what is not.

Some things about Clark are public — her stats, her contract, her endorsements. Other things are not — and her team is no doubt clear about the difference. Your nonprofit needs a Public Disclosure Policy that explains which documents must be made available on request (Form 990, your IRS determination letter, your Form 1023) and which stay internal. Transparency is not the same as oversharing.

PART THREE: STEWARDSHIP (Lessons #11–#15)

Caitlin Clark’s career is not just about scoring. It is about taking care of what she has been given — her talent, her platform, her teammates. Stewardship is the quiet half of greatness.

Lesson #11. Save the receipts.

Champions document everything. So should nonprofits. Your Document Retention and Destruction Policy (sometimes called a DRD Policy) tells you what to keep, how long to keep it, where to keep it, and how to securely destroy it when the time comes. It covers paper records and electronic records, including emails and text messages. Without one, you keep everything forever (a privacy and storage problem) or throw things away too quickly (a legal and audit problem).

Lesson #12. Protect what was entrusted to you.

Donor information. Beneficiary information. Personnel records. Board deliberations. People share things with your nonprofit because they trust your nonprofit. A Confidentiality Policy defines what is confidential, who is responsible for protecting it, and what happens when confidentiality is breached. Confidentiality is not about hiding things. It is about protecting people.

Lesson #13. Invest with intention.

I’ll bet Clark’s 2025 injuries forced her to think long-term. Iowa nonprofits with reserves or endowments should think the same way about their assets. Your Investment Policy defines who makes investment decisions, what risk tolerance is acceptable, how performance is measured, and how the board exercises oversight.

Lesson #14. Raise money the way you would want to be asked.

Almost every Iowa nonprofit raises charitable funds in some form. A Fundraising Policy addresses compliance with local, state, and federal laws and the ethical norms your nonprofit chooses to follow. It covers both soliciting donations and receiving them. It is the document you reach for when a donor asks something you have not been asked before. It is also how you keep the values of your mission inside the way you ask for support.

Lesson #15. Pull up the mission and read it out loud.

At least once a year. At a board meeting. Out loud.

Ask whether your mission statement still describes what your nonprofit actually does. If it does, recommit to it. If it does not, fix it. A mission statement that no longer matches the work is a surprisingly common issue.

PART FOUR: COMMUNITY (Lessons #16–#22)

Caitlin Clark is the most famous basketball player in Iowa history, and she still goes home, still texts her high school coach, still wears the jersey that says where she came from. Greatness is local before it is national.

Lesson #16. Take care of the people who do the work.

If your nonprofit has even one employee, you need an Employee Handbook. It is your culture in writing. It covers anti-discrimination, harassment, benefits, time off, remote work, technology use, and at-will employment. It should include a clear acknowledgment form and language reserving the right to update policies. A good handbook reduces or even eliminates conflict before it starts.

Lesson #17. Get individual roles in writing.

Different from the Handbook. Employee Agreements are individual contracts. They define the role, the compensation, the benefits, the review schedule, the termination conditions, and any non-compete or dispute resolution provisions. Especially critical for executive directors and other senior roles.

Lesson #18. Classify workers correctly.

If your nonprofit works with freelancers, consultants, or contractors, get the relationship in writing through Independent Contractor Agreements. Iowa has strict rules on worker classification. Misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor when they should be treated as an employee creates tax, insurance, and even potential criminal exposure. This is one of the easiest mistakes for a small Iowa nonprofit to make and one of the most expensive to fix.

Lesson #19. Honor your volunteers.

If your Iowa nonprofit relies on volunteers — and most do — you need a Volunteer Policy. It covers role descriptions, time expectations, training, code of conduct, confidentiality obligations, liability and insurance considerations, and emergency contact information. A Volunteer Policy protects your volunteers and protects your organization. It also makes volunteer onboarding feel like joining something serious instead of just showing up.

Lesson #20. Post like the world is watching, because it just might be.

Clark has no doubt drafted a tweet, thought better of it, and never hit send. A Social Media Policy covers who posts, what they can post, what is off-limits, how donor information is handled online, and what happens when a staff member’s personal post creates an organizational problem. Every Iowa nonprofit has a social media presence. Most do not have a Social Media Policy. That gap could be where the next crisis lives.

Lesson #21. Stand for who you serve.

I am aware that DEI is under intense scrutiny right now. That is exactly why a thoughtful, written, mission-aligned Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policy matters more than it did three (3) years ago, not less. A DEI Policy is not a slogan. It is a commitment to fair hiring, equitable pay, transparent promotion, and inclusive board recruitment, written down in your organization’s own voice. It tells your staff who you are, your donors who you are, and your community who you are. Iowa nonprofits should not abandon this work because the political weather has changed. Your fave nonprofit’s mission did not change.

Lesson #22. Celebrate the people who got you here.

Clark wears number twenty-two (22) because she was born on January 22, 2002. But she got to be Caitlin Clark because of everyone around her — the family that stood courtside through every game, the West Des Moines coaches and teammates and AAU programs that built her before anyone outside Iowa was paying attention.

Your nonprofit has the same kind of people. The founding board members. The first donor who said yes when you had nothing to show. The volunteer who has been there for fifteen (15) years. The staff member who took the pay cut because they believed in the mission.

Write them into your annual report. Read their names at the gala. Put them on the wall. That is governance, too. That is what twenty-two (22) is really about.

Why Twenty-Two (22)? Why Now?

You did not choose your founding date. You did not choose the year a federal program got cut, or the year a longtime donor passed away, or the year your executive director announced retirement. The calendar handed those things to you.

What you get to choose is how you react. Whether they become the start of something stronger or the end of something tired. Whether the offseason becomes the year you finally got the goals right, or the year you ran out of time.

Today at noon Iowa time, Clark and the Fever face the Dallas Wings in both teams; opener. I hope your nonprofit is ready for its own opening day.

Need Help Getting Your Twenty-Two (22) in Order?

I draft, review, and revise full governance packages for Iowa nonprofits, including Articles, Bylaws, core policies, and more. I offer a free one-hour consultation to any Iowa nonprofit. No invoice. No catch. Just help.

Email me anytime: gordon@gordonfischerlawfirm.com
#GoCaitlinClark #GoNumber22 #GoFever #GoHawks

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When Your Star Player Keeps Going Back to the Tunnel: A Nonprofit Governance Lesson