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.
A thoughtful commitment to charitable giving and sufficient funding are baselines for starting a nonprofit private foundation. But there’s more needed. Check out the following steps you should take as you move forward: Identify your reasons for starting a new organization. Are they primarily altruistic or personal? What is it...
Last Thursday and Friday, I attended one of my favorite annual events, the Western Conference on Tax Exempt Organizations (WCTEO), co-sponsored by Loyola Law School and the Internal Revenue Service. As always, the event was attended by many prominent attorneys, accountants, and executives who practice in the nonprofit and...
Caring to Change, an independent project conducted in collaboration with the Aspen Institute's Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, earlier this year released Foundations for the Common Good, a report written by Mark Rosenman on how grantmaking can be more effective if focused on the broader goal of advancing the "Common Good."...
Regretfully, I again missed the Council on Foundations (CoF) Annual Conference, though I was present in Denver for the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) annual board and membership meetings before flying to Portland to participate in the ReVV 2010 Conference. The theme of the CoF Conference this year: Intersections: Social...
Erik Dryburgh of Adler & Colvin presented a program for the San Francisco Foundation on April 28, 2009 titled "Charitable Trusts and the Financial Meltdown: What to do With Underwater CRTs and Foundations." Dryburgh opened the program describing the scenario as a "philanthropic train wreck." He noted that some...
In March 2009, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy ("NCRP"), an independent watchdog of foundations and institutional grantmakers, released the Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact. NCRP claims that the Criteria is "the first ever set of measurable guidelines that will help foundations...
Private foundations are subject to strong prohibitions on “direct” and “grassroots” lobbying, generally meaning any direct contact with a member of a legislative body regarding specific legislation and encouragement by the foundation to have individuals contact legislators to convey a position on specific legislation, respectively. However, as the Donor...
Microphilanthropy is a term that is being used more and more frequently. As one of the “top ten philanthropy buzzwords of 2007”, perhaps more attention needs to be paid to this emerging practice. The concept is similar to the notion behind the Grameen Bank. However, where microfinance talks of...
At the Council on Foundation Conference, former director of the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS Marcus Owens discussed the concept of a new form of legal entity that might be an appropriate vehicle (1) for social enterprises, and (2) to receive program-related investments – the low-profit limited liability...
The Advanced Legal Seminar given at the Council on Foundations Conference featured Lisa Johnsen of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis; Marcus Owens of Caplin & Drysdale and former head of the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS; LaVerne Woods of Davis Wright & Tremaine and Chair of the...