Legal Compliance Guidance

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All information on this website, and all publications, articles, email correspondence, and telephone consultations provided by Council attorneys and legal staff are intended for informational purposes only and not as part of an attorney-client relationship. Council attorneys are not licensed in every state and cannot provide legal representation. The information is not a substitute for expert legal, tax, or other professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances and may not be relied upon for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code. Council members may email legal@cof.org with inquiries and for more information.

Displaying 49 - 64 of 166 results

Sharing Office Equipment & Supplies

Legal Compliance Guidance
Office equipment and supplies may always be shared if the parent company provides the foundation with the equipment or supplies free of charge. It is also possible for the parent company and the foundation to share the cost of equipment and supplies, but great care needs to be taken to structure…

Legal Question: Sharing Employees

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: May a company and its private foundation share employees? Answer: Yes, so long as any arrangement between the private foundation and the sponsoring company is structured in a way that does not violate the prohibition against self-dealing. Corporate foundations and their sponsoring…

990 Filing for Corporate Grantmakers

Legal Compliance Guidance
Electronic Filing: While the requirements regarding electronic filing of Forms 990 and 990-PF have not changed, the electronic filing requirement for some organizations is still relatively new. For that reason, you may want to revisit the mandatory electronic filing rules to determine whether your…

Tickets to Fundraisers

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: What should corporate foundations and their parent companies consider when purchasing tickets to fundraisers? Response: Whether they are tickets to a dinner, to a performance, or simply for general admission to a facility, tickets have an economic value. When a company or foundation…

Stewardship Principles for Independent Foundations

Legal Compliance Guidance
The Stewardship Principles for Independent Foundations are a set of governance best practices that embody how independent foundations can reflect fundamental values such as honesty, integrity, fairness, and trust in their board governance, management, and grantmaking.

How to Avoid Self-Dealing for Family Foundations

Legal Compliance Guidance
Slide presentation reviewing the basics of avoiding self-dealing as a family foundation.

Hiring An Archival Consultant

Legal Compliance Guidance
The services of a consultant may prove beneficial to an organization considering the creation of a records management or archival program. From a consultation, those who oversee the records and archives project should derive a general sense of the existing historical record of the organization —…

Stewardship Principles for Family Foundations

Legal Compliance Guidance
The Stewardship Principles for Family Foundations are a set of governance best practices that embody how family foundations can reflect fundamental values (including honesty, integrity, fairness, and trust) in their board governance, management, and grantmaking.  

Providing Relief in Times of Disaster - Gifts from a Public Charity

Legal Compliance Guidance
Grants to Public Charities from a Public Charity Unless from a donor-advised fund, disaster relief grants to domestic section 501(c) (3) public charities do not present special issues. Grants from a Donor Advised Fund Disaster relief aid can be provided through a donor advised fund generally by…

Providing Relief in Times of Disaster - Matching Gifts

Legal Compliance Guidance
Public foundations, community foundations and corporate giving programs may establish a matching gifts program that will match disaster relief gifts made by employees or other donors living in the U.S. or anywhere in the world, provided the grantees are public charities based in the U.S., and gifts…

Providing Relief in Times of Disaster - Direct Corporate Giving

Legal Compliance Guidance
Grants to Public Charities from a Corporate Giving Program Businesses can make disaster relief grants directly from the corporation, or from its corporate giving program, to any section 501(c)(3)public charity. An added plus is that such gifts are eligible as charitable deductions for the company…

International Corporate Giving

Legal Compliance Guidance, Fundamentals
This brief provides practical advice on setting strategy, ensuring on-the-ground presence, and selecting partners for U.S.-based companies with foundations and/or giving programs that are either venturing into the international giving arena or seeking to enhance their current programs. The last…

Supporting Employee Volunteerism

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: May a private company foundation support the volunteer activities of the sponsoring corporation's employees? Answer: Company foundations sometimes play a role in coordinating volunteer activities of the sponsoring corporation's employees. The IRS has approved company foundations'…

Reporting Direct Charitable Activities

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: Our company foundation sometimes carries out its own charitable programs. For example, last year we organized a conference on the topic of evaluating program impact for our grantees and other nonprofits in one of our communities. Where does this information get reported on our Form 990-…

Public Disclosure of Form 990-PF

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: Our staff just received a request for a copy of our foundation's Form 990-PF. Are we required to provide this information? Answer: Yes. A foundation’s tax return on Form 990-PF provides a wealth of information about the organization including asset size, board members, salary information…

Private Foundation Excise Tax Rates

Legal Compliance Guidance
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) increased the excise tax rates for violations of many of the private foundation rules. In most cases, the first-tier taxes were doubled. These changes are effective for private foundations upon the foundation’s first tax year beginning after August 17, 2006…

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