In rare instances following an investigation of a nonprofit, my office has decided it’s best for the target nonprofit to shut down. We then usually create an agreement with that nonprofit for it to dissolve its existence. This generally happens when the legal violations or futility of trying to continue are so stunningly obvious, it’s in everyone’s interest just to stop.

But once I had a nonprofit make an unsolicited offer to dissolve. I was surprised, since my office was still in the initial stages of review, but I agreed. The nonprofit’s conduct had been questionable, but I was not sure any state laws had been broken.

So what could a nonprofit do that was so bad that it voluntarily invoked one of the harsher penalties under Missouri law, even though it may not have broken any state laws? Simple: It completely failed to meet its constituents’ expectations for openness, and the…

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