Managing Growth, Opportunity, and Business Activities: Complex Organizational Structures and Why and When to Use Them

Complex Organizational Structure36th Annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute, Austin, Texas, 01/18/2019

Understanding the reasons for utilizing a more complex structure and the options available can be pivotal to an organization in fulfilling its mission.  This paper and presentation examine the options that can be utilized to build a more complex organizational structure to manage growth, opportunity, and business activities of a nonprofit organization, including an outline of reasons to create a more complex structure, an overview of and considerations for common entities utilized along with their key attributes, and guidance on managing the relationship between the parent entity and its subsidiaries including the importance of maintaining appropriate separateness.

Business Leagues and Trade Associations

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State Bar of Texas 16th Annual Governance of Nonprofit Organizations Course, Austin, Texas, 08/23/2018 Co-presented with Richard W. Meyer

More than 180 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville marveled over the use of associations in the United States through his treatise, Democracy in America, Today, Americans continue to join together for nonprofit purposes. While advancing the common business interest of their members, business leagues and trade associations are a thriving and vibrant part of the nonprofit world.  This paper and presentation provide an introduction to the tax law and a selection non-tax concerns affecting these § 501(c)(6) organizations.

Putting Things Together: Subsidiaries, Complex Organizational Structures, Joint Ventures, and Joint Funding Vehicles

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35th Annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute, Austin, Texas, 01/19/2018 Co-written and co-presented with John F. Crawford

Charities can enhance the depth and breadth of their operations and impact by utilizing subsidiaries, affiliates, and other joint venture vehicles.  This paper and presentation examine choice of form, tax status of the vehicle, and how different options affect the exempt organization and its tax status, including a look at joint venture and funding vehicles along with fundraising and transfer pricing issues.