Nonprofit hack: CLEO Bylaw Builder

This is a very cool nonprofit hack.

The Ontario Nonprofit Corporations Act (ONCA) was recently updated on October 19, 2021, and Nonprofit Law Ontario has excellent practical information on its website to support nonprofits in understanding the changes, whether the changes apply to them, and what actions to take, presented in a stepwise approach.

Immediate action is not necessary; nonprofits have until October 18, 2024 to review, update and file governing documents with the Ontario government.

One of the actions that organizations may need to take is to update the organization’s bylaws to reflect the ONCA changes. And CLEO provides a very useful (and free!) Bylaw Builder that helps nonprofits develop a set of bylaws that comply with ONCA. As described by CLEO, the tool asks you questions, explains what your choices are, and includes information to help you decide. Then, based on your answers, it generates a set of bylaws for your nonprofit.

Creating bylaws can be challenging for new nonprofits, or inexperienced nonprofit Board members and Directors. The templates available online or from past bylaw efforts don’t always reflect the organization’s realities, governance structure, or are not in alignment with government regulations such as those under ONCA.

So we’re happy to shout the CLEO Bylaw Builder from the rooftops! An excellent idea, and a practical resource to help nonprofits be compliant.

And we encourage you to learn more about the other resources available from Nonprofit Law Ontario, which is a project of CLEO to meet the legal needs of small and medium-sized nonprofits and charities in Ontario as they transition to the ONCA. CLEO works closely with the Ontario Nonprofit Network to ensure the information is relevant to and reaches the widest possible network of nonprofits.