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.

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.

Creating Subsidiaries of Tax-Exempt Organizations

1159518571-copyState Bar of Texas, 15th Annual Governance of Nonprofit Organizations Course, Austin, Texas, 08/25/2017

Tax-exempt organizations utilize subsidiaries and related organizations for a number of different reasons ranging from management concerns to liability protection to tax necessity. While the nonprofit corporate form is generally used for charitable organizations conducting commercial activities, a number of different forms should be considered for a subsidiary or affiliate organization. This paper and presentation explore many of these considerations while exposing seemingly unforeseen traps, all while being mindful of the ultimate legal issue tax-exempt entities face: “How will this impact our exempt status?”