Bruce R. Hopkins is the expert on nonprofit law. In addition to being the editor of Wiley's Nonprofit Law, Finance, and Management Series, and the author of over a dozen books on the subject, he also has been a practicing lawyer for 26 years, and is the chair of both the Committee on Exempt Organizations, Tax Section, American Bar Association and the Section of Taxation, National Association of College and University Attorneys as well as the president of the Planned Giving Study Group of Greater Washington.

The current edition of The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations is without doubt the most comprehensive book on the subject and is also, considering how long it takes to produce a hard-bound book, extremely timely, particularly the sections on the Internet, an area in which the law is still being written. And to make it even timelier, the publisher includes a note to purchasers that current updates will be made available at no additional charge.

Finance professionals, both on staff and in an advisory capacity to nonprofits, are the primary audience for this book. The book's scope covers what types of organizations are tax-exempt, what types of expenses are tax deductible, which sources of income are untaxed, which are taxed, and which are so afield that they can jeopardize an organization's tax-exempt status. Hopkins also goes into great detail regarding which types of political activities are permitted by tax-exempt organizations and which are not. An entire chapter is dedicated to the "Exemption Recognition Process." Of course, lawyers are a primary audience as well. Since the book does not contain actual cases but only cites them, it would need to be read in conjunction with other material.

Overall, the book is not particularly accessible to a layperson, although some portions are easier to read than others. The sections on political activity, something that the average citizen has some familiarity with, are more user-friendly than the ones that refer to various types of income and expenses, which contain a great deal of the sort of specialized language used by accountants.

The book contains useful appendices: Sources of the Law (including both Federal and State); IRS Code Sections (defining different types of tax-exempt organizations); and Categories of Tax-Exempt Organizations (defines these by subject); as well as a Table of Cases and various tables of IRS rulings. Again, these would be of greatest interest to lawyers, accountants, and financial personnel. For the book to be of more use to the lay person, it would have been nice for there also to have been a glossary defining some of the terminology mentioned earlier.

One of the book's strongest features is its organization, which makes it easy to use as a reference text. Each chapter has an outline at the beginning, allowing readers to find what they are looking for quickly, and there is a fairly comprehensive index.

For citations to additional information on this topic, refer to the Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject heading "Nonprofit organizations-government regulations."