This act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies which include all of the following:

    (a) To simplify, clarify, and modernize the law governing nonprofit corporations.

    (b) To provide a general corporate form for the conduct or promotion of lawful nonprofit activities or purposes, with any variations and modifications from the form as interested parties in any corporation may agree on, subject only to overriding interests of this state and of third parties.