Pryor Cashman’s Nonprofit Organizations Practice represents a wide variety of public charities, private foundations, employee welfare groups, educational institutions, social and country clubs, labor organizations, cemetery associations and other tax-exempt entities.
What We Do
We advise our clients on a wide range of matters that include corporate and governance issues, sponsorship and charitable fundraising opportunities, endowment administration and investment, indemnification, charitable solicitation laws, along with an array of exempt organization tax issues. In addition, we provide counsel on business combinations, including joint ventures, sales of assets, mergers, consolidations and sophisticated reorganizations and restructurings.
Investigations and Litigation
Our attorneys have an edge over the competition, combining their background in white collar investigations and civil litigation with expertise in exempt organization law. We counsel clients on matters that could potentially ripen into government investigations or litigations and we have handled numerous internal investigations, governance disputes, and represented nonprofits in investigations and litigations brought by civil enforcement and regulatory authorities, many of which have led to groundbreaking case decisions in this area. As part of the services we provide in this unique space, we also bring our decades of expertise to counsel clients on their reporting obligations, internal controls and crisis management, including interfacing with the media, grantors and the public.
Transactional Services
We offer traditional exempt organization transactional services, advising nonprofits throughout their life cycle from formation, structuring, governance, management and tax-related concerns through mergers and combinations, including joint ventures, restructurings, liquidations, sale of assets, and dissolutions.
Advisory Services
We advise on sponsorship and charitable fundraising opportunities, classification, use and administration of endowment and restricted funds, UBIT issues, indemnification, charitable solicitation laws, forming, operating and using for-profit subsidiaries, program–related investments, supporting organizations and donor-advised funds, restrictions on lobbying and other political activity, as well as public disclosure and Form 990 and other reporting requirements.
Governance
Our attorneys are leading authorities on nonprofit governance and routinely advise directors and trustees in their role as fiduciaries and the specific and unique duties and obligations of board members of tax-exempt organizations. We provide counsel and assistance on a range of governance related issues from board leadership and composition, conflicts of interest, independent audits and whistleblower policies, intermediate sanctions and excess benefit rules, director and officer liability, self-dealing and other rules specific to private foundations.
Addressing Special Tax Issues
Members of our Tax Group advise on sophisticated tax issues and other matters critical to maintaining tax-exempt status, and ensure that our clients’ organizational structure and operations comply with IRS regulations. When exempt status is at risk, we engage with the IRS and assist clients seeking private letter rulings on difficult or sensitive matters. We have been successful in helping many organizations retain their rightful status.
Structuring Charitable Giving
Our Trusts + Estates Practice helps philanthropic individuals create and administer trusts and estates designed to further their charitable goals. We regularly advise on the most effective and creative strategies for making donations, creating endowments and giving gifts to public and private charities. Additionally, we advise individual, corporate and foundation donors and charitable organizations on complex structured gifts and ways to maximize the benefits of planned future gifts, as well as address donor-control issues that may arise.
