Nonprofit Corporation Member Books and Records Inspection in Wisconsin

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The two inspection routes

Wisconsin’s Chapter 181 gives a member a five-business-day written notice or demand route for the records kept at the principal office under § 181.1601(5): current articles and bylaws, member-rights resolutions, three years of member minutes and approved actions, and current directors’ and officers’ names and addresses. The corporation specifies a reasonable time and location. A member’s agent or attorney has the same inspection and copying rights.

Section 181.1602(2) covers excerpts from other permanent member, director, or committee action records. The member gives written notice at least five business days ahead and must show good faith, a proper purpose, a reasonably particular description of purpose and records, and a direct connection. The current text of subsection (2) lists only item (a). Although § 181.1601 also requires accounting and membership records, that recordkeeping rule does not by itself add them to subsection (2)’s current inspection list.

Copies, lists, and financial statements

Reasonable photographic or other copies are included; a corporation may charge labor and materials up to its estimated production or reproduction cost. Records must be capable of conversion to writing within a reasonable time.

For a meeting, § 181.0720 makes the member list available to any member for communication with other members about the meeting, beginning two business days after notice and continuing through the meeting. A written demand allows inspection and, subject to the purpose and list-use limits, copying at the member’s expense. Section 181.1605 restricts unrelated, commercial, and sale or purchase uses without board consent.

On written demand, § 181.1620 separately requires the latest annual financial statements, including a year-end balance sheet and operations statement. A certified public accountant’s report accompanies statements reviewed by that accountant; otherwise the responsible officer or accounting custodian supplies the specified preparation statement.

Refusal and court order

The circuit court in the county of the principal office, or the registered office if there is no Wisconsin principal office, may summarily order core-record inspection at corporate expense. It handles a qualifying refusal of other records on an expedited basis. If it orders inspection, the corporation pays the member’s costs and reasonable attorney fees unless it proves a good-faith reasonable basis to doubt the right; the court may restrict use or distribution. Section 181.0720 has a separate summary remedy for the meeting list and permits postponing the meeting.

What trips people up

Section 181.1603(4) still refers to a demand under § 181.1602(2)(c) and offers a recently compiled member list as the response. The current § 181.1602(2) has no item (c). The cross-reference does not supply missing language. The meeting-list route in § 181.0720 remains express.

Statutes and sources

• Wis. Stat. § 181.1601: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.1602: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.1603: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.1604: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.1605: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.1620: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.
• Wis. Stat. § 181.0720: Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-10-02.