Carter Law Group, P.C. regularly serves as outside general counsel to tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations. We also represent donors with respect to significant gifts and socially responsible companies with respect to cause marketing arrangements and corporate giving strategies. Specifically, Carter Law Group provides advice and counsel with respect to the following:

• Public charity rules and regulations
• Private foundation rules and regulations
• Governance
• Commercial and entrepreneurial activities
• Risk management
• Fundraising counsel
• Nonprofit organizational relationships
• International philanthropy
• Annual reporting
• Social enterprise
• Contract drafting and review
• Compensation
• Available for presentations as well as staff and board trainings

Each service is described in more detail as follows:

Public charity rules and regulations

• Formation as well as obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status
• Public charity support tests and qualification
• Excess benefit transaction prevention and correction
• Advocacy, lobbying, and political activities
• Supporting organization qualification and operating standards
• Donor advised fund qualification and operating standards
• Public disclosure

Private foundation rules and regulations

• Formation as well as obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status
• Grant-making practices, diligence, and documentation
• Jeopardizing investment rules
• Minimum distribution rules
• Taxable expenditure rules
• Scholarship and individual grant guidelines and IRS approval
• Disqualified person and self-dealing rules
• Cross-border grants and activities
• Operating foundation qualification and operating standards
• Analyzing nontraditional investments for tax consequences and risk

Governance

• Governance policies
• Committee Charters
• Executive compensation including avoidance and correction of intermediate sanctions
• Board structure, composition, roles, and responsibilities
• Board/staff relationships, responsibilities, and delegation of authority

Commercial and entrepreneurial activities

• Taxation of unrelated business income
• Corporate Sponsorships and cause marketing agreements

Risk management

• Indemnification policies
• Insurance coverages
• Regulatory compliance and annual reporting
• Corporate practices and record-keeping

Fundraising counsel

• Planned gifts including charitable lead and remainder trusts
• Major gifts including naming rights gifts
• Corporate sponsorships
• Gift annuity programs
• Multi-state fundraising registration and reporting
• Muti-state commercial co-venture registration and reporting
• Pledge enforcement
• Tax-shelters and listed transactions
• Raffles and charitable gaming

Nonprofit organizational relationships

• Mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, and dissolutions
• Agreements for joint services, funding, administration, and joint venturing
• Strategic alliances, public/private partnerships, affiliations and collaborations
• Board/staff relationships and responsibilities
• Executive and staff employment agreements

International philanthropy

• Assisting in the establishment of international nonprofit organizations in foreign countries. Nonprofit Organizational Relationships
• Advising on raising funds in foreign countries
• Assisting foreign entities in establishing “friends of” organizations in order to raise tax-deductible donations in the U.S.
• Preparing affiliation agreements between nonprofits in various countries to combine efforts and effectively share resources
• Assisting nonprofits in complying with OFAC licensing requirements
• Connecting clients to attorneys in other countries who can help with nonprofit legal needs in that specific country

Annual reporting

• Form 990 Review
• State law compliance and reports

Property tax exemptions

• Analyze and apply for available exemptions

Social enterprise

• Advice regarding corporate foundations and giving programs
• Advice regarding commercial co-ventures and charitable sales promotions
• Structuring philanthropic venture capital investments
• Analyzing Socially-responsible investments
• Forming B corps, L3C’s, and other non-traditional legal structures
• Structuring joint ventures between for profit and nonprofit businesses
• Creating taxable subsidiaries to insulate nonprofit from business activity
• Embedding social purpose into governing documents and policies

Contract drafting and review

• Independent contractor, vendor, consultant, service provider, hotel, etc.
• CEO employment and severance (including excess benefit transaction compliance)
• Confidentiality and proprietary information
• Non-competiton and non-solicitation

Compensation

• Opinion letters
• Excess benefit transaction compliance
• Self-dealing compliance
• Compensation policies

Available for presentations as well as staff and board trainings on:

• Forming a nonprofit
• Nonprofit Law 101
• Nonprofit Boards – Limiting the Risks
• Lobbying and Political Activities
• Nonprofit Governance
• Charter School Governance
• Proper Acknowledgment of Gifts
• Public Disclosure
• Form 990
• Maintaining Tax-exempt Status