Best of the Nonprofit Law Blog 2021

2021 was another difficult year for much of the world and for the nonprofit sector. But it brought us greater recognition of our existing critical challenges, including climate change, systemic racism, and preservation of our democracy. Here are some highlights and articles from the Nonprofit Law Blog over the past year: Governance Purpose-Driven Board Leadership, […]

WCTEO 2021 Highlights

The following are some of the highlights from the 2021 Western Conference on Tax Exempt Organizations (WCTEO), with recognition that these just touch the surface and you’ll get so much more by attending: Lessons from Headlines Donor Advised Funds: Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act (ACE Act) – probably unlikely to be passed as a whole, but there are […]

Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act

The Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act (“ACE Act”) is creating quite a stir among nonprofits and leaders in or advising the sector. The TL;DR version of the controversy: the increase in the funds donated to the charitable nonprofit sector resulting from donor advised funds (DAFs) either offsets or fails to offset the problems associated with (1) […]

“Friends Of” Organizations—Creating a U.S. Nonprofit that Supports a Foreign Charity

Whether it be preserving the breathtaking paintings and sculptures in the famous Louvre of Paris, feeding malnourished children in Somalia, or combatting extreme gender inequality in Saudi Arabia, there is no shortage of international causes that might compel U.S. citizens and organizations to want to donate abroad. While a donor can directly donate to a […]

Nonprofit Tweets of the Week – 6/18/21

Stay informed of the week’s notable events and shared resources with this curated list of Nonprofit Tweets of the Week. Notable Events of the Week: “A highly anticipated first summit meeting between President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ended early on Wednesday and was described by both sides as a series of […]

Traditional Grantmaking Procedures: Are They Really All That Necessary?

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 more dynamic grantmaking style, but as […]

2021 Georgetown EO Conference: Hopkins’ Update on Key Current Developments

Georgetown Law held its 38th Annual Representing and Managing Tax-Exempt Organizations conference (virtual edition) last week. Among the sessions at the conference was a perennial favorite: Update on Key Current Developments presented by exempt organizations attorney Bruce Hopkins. Below are some of the many highlights from his presentation: IRS TE/GE FY 2021 Program Letter IRS […]

Highlights from 2020 Nonprofit Policy Conferences

A few major policy-oriented conferences followed the November elections. Here are some highlights from the sessions I had an opportunity to attend. Council on Foundations Public Policy Summit Unpacking the election. You can find some of speaker Charlie Cook’s talking points in these articles available on the Cook Political Report: Lots of Turnout, Little Ticket […]

Bernholz: Digital Civil Society and Democracy

Lucy Bernholz, Director of the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, is the expert you need to listen to on matters of digital technology, the nonprofit sector and broader civil society, and democracy. I was fortunate enough to attend two of her presentations last week – first, at […]

Nonprofit Strategic Governance: Guest Lecture 2020

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of guest lecturing for Professor Louise Carroll‘s Nonprofit Strategic Governance class at the University of San Francisco. As a former graduate and adjunct faculty member of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program, which may have been the first in the country, I’m always honored by an invitation […]