Organizations organized around a mission, rather than profit, constitute about 7-10% of the U.S. economy. Because government has made certain policy decisions designed to advance nonprofit's interests, nonprofits are afforded special tax treatment and have different means of raising capital than their for-profit counterparts. The need to insure that the organizational resources are devoted to a nonprofit purpose, rather than private benefit, raise unique issues regarding control and management of these organizations and their assets. Traditional law as it applies to taxation thus is modified for this sector of the economy.



In this course, students will develop an appreciation of the size and diversity of the nonprofit sector and the legal framework that governs it. By the end of the course, students will be able to do the following: form, merge and dissolve a nonprofit organization; obtain tax-exemptions for a nonprofit; advise directors about properly governing their organization; advise a nonprofit about the activities that it may engage in that may either jeopardize its tax-exempt status or subject the organization to tax liability; explain the rationales for the special legal treatment of nonprofit organizations; and, evaluate current legal issues in light of those rationales. There will be several guest lecturers who run non-profit organizations and/or sit on boards of non-profits to discuss the practicalities and complexities of nonprofit organizations.