Q. I am associated with a for-profit company that is branching out and creating a nonprofit arm. Can the two parts of our organization share a human-resources director? And can you recommend any books or Web sites that would help us set up our humanresources department?

A. The short answer to your first question is yes, says Brian Murphy, a Burlington, Vt., lawyer who advises charities. But, assuming the "nonprofit arm" is a private foundation whose money comes solely from the parent corporation, the best situation is for the for-profit company to offer the services of the human-resources director to its nonprofit division at no charge.

Doing so will keep you from getting in trouble by accidentally violating the U.S. Treasury Department's "self-dealing" rules, which prevent people with fiduciary responsibilities at private foundations from taking advantage of their positions, he says. Such a misstep could result in excise taxes for the foundation and its managers.

If you plan to charge the nonprofit arm for its use of the human-resources manager's services to the nonprofit group, he says, "consult with a tax adviser and do it very carefully."

You could also have each entity hire the employee separately under distinct contracts; in essence, the human-resources director would have two jobs, Mr. Murphy says. But he counsels you to exercise caution if you use that kind of arrangement.

If the nonprofit arm is not a private foundation, but rather meets the definition of a public charity, you do not have to worry about self-dealing at all, he adds. For information about self-dealing and other legal issues that foundations may face, visit the Council on Foundations Web site.

To help you set up your human-resources department, Jennifer Hughes, a spokeswoman at the Society for Human Resource Management, in Alexandria, Va, recommends several books. You might start with The 2008 U.S. Master Human Resources Guide, by Donald W. Myers, The Complete Do-It-Yourself HR Department, by Mary F. Cook, The Comprehensive, All-in-One HR Operating Guide, by R.J. Landry, and Essentials of Human Resource Management, by Shaun Tyson.