October 8, 2018

Anti-terrorism Efforts in the Nonprofit Sector

Many U.S.-based nonprofit organizations have an international component to their operations. If your nonprofit organization provides charitable resources to organizations and individuals overseas, whether in the form of goods, cash grants, or services, it is crucial that you perform and memorialize certain due diligence procedures concerning where and to whom you are sending such resources. The U.S. imposes significant civil and criminal penalties on any person, including nonprofit organizations, who finances or otherwise supports terrorism.

International Philanthropy
September 24, 2018

Free Speech: To B or Not to B?

Yet another court ruling has been issued on a somewhat obscure regulatory requirement that highlights the tension between significant First Amendment rights and the state’s power to threaten them. The context is the power of the States’ Attorneys General, in regulating Section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, to obtain otherwise confidential major donor information as disclosed on IRS Form 990 Schedule B. The case is Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra, previously Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Harris, in which a three-judge panel of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a District Court Judge’s judgment that such requirement was unconstitutional as applied to the litigants’ specific circumstances. The Court’s ruling demonstrates a fundamental difference in perspective as to the government’s role in the face of compelling First Amendment free speech and freedom of association rights.

Nonprofit Corporate Law/Religious Organizations
September 21, 2018

The Control Question for Nonprofit Joint Ventures: What is Enough?

Has your nonprofit ever engaged in joint activities with a business, perhaps with resulting revenues?  Such arrangements are increasingly common for many Section 501(c)(3) organizations. A key legal requirement is that the tax-exempt organization maintain control of the project, so that its charitable resources will be “exclusively” used in furtherance of tax-exempt purposes, as required by the Internal Revenue Code.  What does “control” mean for IRS purposes, and what happens to resulting revenues? Careful planning is essential to answering these questions for optimal tax compliance.

Nonprofit Corporate Law/Tax Exemption

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