From Joanne Fritz,
Your Guide to Nonprofit Charitable Orgs.
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Definition: A legal document outlining the self-imposed rules that will regulate an organization's own actions. Since it is a required element when forming a corporation, Bylaws are a form of agreement or contract between the corporation and its owners to conduct itself in a certain way. While for a commercial business the owners are its shareholders, the ownership of a nonprofit corporation belongs to the public as represented by the nonprofit organization's Board of Directors and the government.

Examples: An organization's bylaws specify the rules by which it will operate.