Our clients may be “nonprofit,” but they still need money – and lots of it – to conduct their programs and pay their overhead. Our lawyers have years of hands-on experience raising funds for charities, political campaigns, educational institutions, community foundations, and many other nonprofit groups.
One of our founding partners has extensive experience writing and producing direct mail solicitations. We have collaborated on grant writing campaigns directed at foundations and corporations, and have assisted in drafting the business proposals which often are critical to winning corporate grants.
We are experienced with program service fundraising, such as conventions, publishing, sports events, and corporate-funded issue campaigns. Sometimes such activities can become too commercial, leading to the imposition of “unrelated business income tax” (UBIT) or loss of nonprofit postal privileges. We deal daily with these special tax and postal issues, as well as tactics to minimize to avoid such penalties.
State Charity Regulations
Most nonprofit organizations which solicit contributions from the public are required to register with over 35 different state regulators which oversee both charitable solicitations and fundraising contracts. We prepare state charitable registrations and annual reports on behalf of charities and fundraising counsel, and advise clients regarding the varying state agency treatment of charities and fundraising counsel. We advise clients on the use of the Unified Registration Statement.
As part of this practice, we assist our clients by monitoring their disclaimers on fundraising solicitations to ensure compliance with all local laws. Additionally, we have developed nearly unique expertise in using the nationwide network of state charity regulators to obtain financial and other information when conducting research.