FACTS ASSUMED: A nonprofit corporation operates three hospitals that are not separately incorporated, but each hospital is a corporate division with a board of trustees to which the corporate board delegates extensive responsibility.

QUESTION: May a judge serve on the board of trustees of one of the hospital divisions of such a nonprofit corporation?

ANSWER: Yes, subject to certain limitations provided by Canon 5B, as stated in the following paragraph. Subject to those conditions, a judge may serve as a trustee of a charitable organization not conducted for the economic or political advantage of its members.

Canon 5B provides that a judge should not serve if the organization will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before the judge or will be regularly engaged in adversary proceedings in any court. Also, a judge should not solicit funds or permit the use of the judge's name in fund raising, and a judge should not give investment advice to such an organization.