Nonprofit Organizations

Our focus on nonprofit organizations reaches across several different areas of practice to best serve clients in a growing and complex field. Our attorneys apply an interdisciplinary practice approach to every matter, while embracing our ability to work together serve our clients.  We have a deep bench of experience in all areas of law applicable to tax-exempt organizations, including, tax, corporate, corporate governance, litigation, health care, labor and real estate.

We represent a broad range of tax-exempt organizations including:

  • National and international public charities,
  • Family and private foundations,
  • Foundations affiliated with public corporations,
  • Colleges and universities,
  • Private and charter schools,
  • Hospitals and health care providers,
  • Religious organizations,
  • National fraternities and sororities, and
  • Trade and professional associations.

We assist our nonprofit clients at different stages of their life cycle, from formation and tax qualification to effective growth and diversification. We advise them on best practices to protect their tax-exempt status and ensure their survival. We provide counsel on unrelated business taxable income issues, intermediate sanctions (including reasonable compensation issues), private inurement and private benefit issues, lobbying, and other political activities. We assist our tax-exempt clients with compliance reviews of their governance procedures, including our recommendations for governance guidelines, committee charters, conflict of interest policies and ethical conduct statements.

A large portion of our practice is devoted to completing fundamental transactions for our clients. These include mergers, acquisitions, sales of assets and dissolutions. We work cooperatively with our clients’ other consultants, accountants and local counsel to achieve a smooth transition.  We also advise our clients on the numerous state rules governing solicitation for charitable purposes and register our clients with state and local governmental authorities throughout the country.  We advise our clients on all issues arising from professional fundraisers, raffles, sweepstakes and auctions.

Our team guides our clients on the use of endowment funds, restricted gifts and their fiduciary obligations regarding the investment of charitable assets. We help our clients develop processes for satisfying those obligations by their endowment policies and investment policy statements. We also advise clients in their capacity as trustees of charitable split interest trusts.

We are committed to furthering the work of our nonprofit clients, and we value their contributions to our communities.