Taft has extensive experience in advising nonprofit organizations, foundations and tax-exempt entities in all aspects of their organization and operation. We have represented over 500 nonprofit organizations, including hospitals and health care organizations, universities, colleges, educational organizations, family and corporate foundations, religious organizations, fine arts and cultural organizations, governmental entities, social service, fraternal, social, and other charitable or nonprofit organizations. We counsel clients on a wide range of issues, including governance, foundations, endowment funds, charitable giving and planned giving programs, and fundraising, as well as tax matters such as unrelated business income, intermediate sanctions, and joint ventures. Taft attorneys also advise individuals, corporations, and tax-exempt entities on the tax and other aspects of charitable gift planning, including charitable trusts and private foundations.
Attorneys in the Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Organizations practice understand that the laws relating to charities and exempt organizations are increasingly complex and highly specialized. Our attorneys advise a wide range of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations on the key issues they face.
Whether it is corporate governance, tax matters, corporate transactions, litigation, real estate, or employment matters, our attorneys have the requisite specialized knowledge, judgment, and experience. Our practice includes attorneys who have dedicated their careers to this specialty.
Representative Services
Taft counsels nonprofit and tax-exempt entities in all aspects of their operation and activities, including:
- Organization and operation of nonprofit corporations, including advice regarding Articles of Incorporation, Code of Regulations (Bylaws), applying for and maintaining tax-exempt status, conflict of interest policies, trustee and officer liability indemnification, and insurance issues.
- Unrelated business income tax rules, including application of rules to fundraising, corporate sponsored events, bingo and gaming, sale of goods and services, and other business operations.
- Participation of tax-exempt organizations in partnerships, limited liability companies, and other joint ventures, and formation of taxable subsidiaries.
- Reorganizations, including mergers, consolidations, affiliations, and other combinations, as well as divisions and dissolutions.
- Health care issues (see our Health & Life Sciences group for more information).
- Planned giving programs, including charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, pooled income funds, gift annuities (including compliance with disclosure rules for exemption from securities and antitrust laws and state insurance laws), gifts of life insurance and real estate, and gift acceptance policies.
- Organization and operation of endowment funds and foundations.
- Organization and operation of family and corporate private foundations and supporting organizations.
- Property and sales tax exemption and compliance with other state registration, solicitation, and other rules and regulations.
- Fundraising and charitable solicitations, including unrelated business income and state regulation issues.
- Tax return reporting and compliance.
Representative Clients
Arts/Culture
- Baker-Hunt Foundation
- Cincinnati Public Radio
- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
- Educational Theatre Association
- Fine Arts Fund (nka ArtsWave)
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
- Northern Kentucky Symphony
Children/Youth
- Daniel Beard Council, Boy Scouts of America
- Educational Theatre Association
- Joy Outdoor Education Center
- Lighthouse Youth Services
- Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
- St. Aloysius Orphanage
- The Children's Home of Cincinnati
Conservation/Environment
Campbell Conservancy
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (& Foundation)
Hamilton County Parks Foundation
WAVE Foundation (associated with Newport Aquarium)
The Boone Conservancy
Educational
- Baker-Hunt Foundation
- Bluffton University
- John Carroll University
- Case Western Reserve University
- Educational Theatre Association
- Gateway Community and Technical College Foundation
- Hebrew Union College
- Joy Outdoor Education Center
- Kenyon College
- Miami University Foundation (Oxford, Ohio)
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
- Northern Kentucky University Foundation, Inc.
- Phi Kappa Tau Foundation
- Roger Bacon High School
- Seton High School
- The Seven Hills School
- University of Cincinnati
Foundations
- James Graham Brown Foundation
- Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation
- Fifth Third Foundation
- Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation
- Johnson Charitable Gift Fund
- Kroger Co. Foundation
- Marvin Lewis Community Fund
- The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
- U.S. Bank Foundation
Governmental/Civic/Community
- Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Hamilton County Parks Foundation
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
- Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI)
- Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) (& ORSANCO Foundation)
- The Center for Rural Development
- The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Health Care
- Atrium Medical Center Foundation
- Bethesda Hospital
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (& Foundation)
- Good Samaritan Hospital
- Grandview Medical Center
- Greater Cincinnati Health Council
- Kettering Medical Center
- Lifeline of Ohio
- Mount Carmel Health System
- OhioHealth
- OSU Physicians, Inc.
- Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
- TriHealth
Religious/Faith-Based
- Christian Benevolent Association
- Franciscans – Province of St. John the Baptist
- Habitat for Humanity
- Hebrew Union College
- Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
- Society of St. Vincent de Paul
- The Grail in the USA
Social Services
- Habitat for Humanity
- Lighthouse Youth Services
- St. Aloysius Orphanage
- Society of St. Vincent de Paul
- Talbert House
- The Children's Home of Cincinnati
Other
- Cincinnati Public Radio
- LPGA (& Foundation)
- Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum
- Tennis for Charity
