By NEO Law Group
Private foundations face particular legal issues and challenges that must be managed by their executives and boards. Informed leaders can maximize the impact of their foundations in advancing their charitable missions. But they must carefully manage those issues and challenges that can expose the foundation and its leaders to penalties and damage to their public reputation, especially if the foundation is engaged in arrangements and transactions that involve potential or actual conflicts of interests. Careful planning is critical to building a strong and sound infrastructure to ensure the foundation’s ongoing effectiveness and legal compliance.
Certified Pubic Accounting Firm Clark Nuber will be hosting a webinar on 2021 Private Foundation Basics on Tuesday, July 27, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. PDT. You can register on Eventbrite (cost: $100; CPE: 4 technical credits). This seminar is a great opportunity to learn about the fundamentals...
I attended a seminar hosted by Exponent Philanthropy where the presenters discussed a unique approach to grantmaking that they referred to as “Catalytic Grantmaking.” The presenters suggested that many of the steps in what they identified as the “traditional grantmaking” process could be ignored to produce a quicker and...
“Catalytic Philanthropy” was coined by Mark Kramer in an article he wrote for the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2009. The article states that a grantor’s role in traditional philanthropy is typically limited to writing a check to a nonprofit and otherwise having a pretty much hands-off approach (besides its performance of the...
Earlier this year, the IRS released a private letter ruling (PLR 202119002) on a private foundation’s contemplated grants to three foreign organizations that will each regrant the applicable funds to secondary grantees in furtherance of the private foundation’s 501(c)(3) exempt purposes. While a PLR may not be relied on...
There were two big changes to tax laws affecting nonprofits sure to spread some cheer. They were part of a year-end appropriations act signed into law on December 20, 2019. Repeal of the “Parking Tax” The first change is a repeal of the nonsensical and unpopular tax on qualified...
Thanks to our friends at Perlman+Perlman for providing us with permission to re-publish this important post on the “Newman’s Own Exception” to the Excess Business Holdings Rule by one of its partners, Allen Bromberger, whose bio we include at the end of the post. On February 9, 2018, President...
Yesterday, Erin, Michele, and I attended Investor2Invest: An Afternoon of Connecting to Impact organized by ImpactAssets, SV2 – Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, and Toniic. While listening to the different panels, I considered my own thoughts about impact investing. Impact Investing Impact investing used to be seen as investing...
Private foundations in the United States are often interested in funding promising organizations and projects that are based outside of the country. When doing so, these foundations are required to follow certain rules and procedures promulgated by the IRS to help ensure that the foreign grantees are properly using...
In June 2017, Guidestar released A Guide to Good Practices in Foundation Operations. The practices outlined cover the following areas: transparency; due diligence; responsive communications; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Transparency Although not a guarantee of effectiveness, we believe transparency in general correlates with excellence in foundations. Which makes sense—the...
The Council on Foundations 2017 Annual Conference (Leading Together) was held in Dallas on April 23-26. The Opening Plenary, Philanthropy’s Role in Vibrant Communities, kicked off with President George W. Bush discussing his recently published book, Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, and the work of the George...