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Nonprofits & Associations

Serving as the go-to law firm for nonprofits and trade associations for more than seventy years, we understand the unique challenges facing these organizations and provide cost-effective, practical, business-oriented solutions.

Our Focus

ArentFox Schiff maintains an extensive practice counseling nonprofits on their unique financial and business operations. Our clients are an array of nonprofits, including trade associations, charities, cultural institutions and museums, educational institutions, hospitals and other health care organizations, religious institutions, and political committees and issue advocacy groups.  

We serve well-known institutions as well as smaller organizations, providing strategic advice and leveraging the breadth of our expertise to help manage governance, operations, and compliance. 

Serving as outside general counsel to many of our nonprofit clients, we advise on critical operational initiatives such as financing, real estate, and vendor contracts, offering sophisticated legal counsel and interdisciplinary solutions to address these clients’ business needs. 

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Perspectives on Nonprofits & Associations

How We Help

Business operations

  • Tax-exempt finance, real estate, development, leasing, and construction
  • Nonprofit formation
  • General counsel services
  • Negotiation of contracts, including for hotels, conventions, and software vendors
  • Creation of affiliated for-profit subsidiaries, foundations, and joint ventures
  • Management of intellectual property, including trademarks and copyrights

Compliance

  • Antitrust and competition law compliance, including for joint business activities, member forums, and certification and standard-setting programs
  • Nonprofit tax and exemption compliance
  • State and federal charitable solicitation laws
  • Privacy compliance and data protection/management

Governance

  • Management of bylaws, boards, committees, and fiduciary responsibilities
  • Incorporation of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) matters into management and governance practices

Employment

  • Labor and employment counsel
  • Compensation and benefits solutions
  • Compliance with workplace safety and health regulations

Government Relations

  • Compliance with lobbying and election laws, campaign finance, political advertising, and promotions
  • Federal and state funding opportunities

Litigation

  • Defense of fiduciary breach, employment, and antitrust claims
  • Contract disputes
  • Enforcement of trademark protections and copyrights
  • Responses to subpoenas

Key Contacts