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Full-Text Articles in Law

Curbing (Or Not) Foreign Influence On U.S. Politics And Policies Through The Federal Taxation Of Charities, Johnny Rex Buckles Jan 2020

Curbing (Or Not) Foreign Influence On U.S. Politics And Policies Through The Federal Taxation Of Charities, Johnny Rex Buckles

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.


Trends In Nonprofit Corporation Law In 1976 Aug 2015

Trends In Nonprofit Corporation Law In 1976

Akron Law Review

THE INTEREST OF most Americans in nonprofit, and especially in charitable, organization work has long been a notable feature of American society - having been remarked upon as early as the 1830's in Baron de Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy.' That tendency continues today, even in times of economic recession.2 The economic crunch of 1975-76 saw an increase, not a decrease, in American donations to charitable organizations:' specifically, a 6.5 percent increase in charitable donations ($26.88 billion in 1975, compared to $25.23 billion in 1974), though contributions by foundations and businesses declined by 4.7 and 4 percent respectively. Religious charities …


Trends In Nonprofit Corporation Law In 1976 Aug 2015

Trends In Nonprofit Corporation Law In 1976

Akron Law Review

THE INTEREST OF most Americans in nonprofit, and especially in charitable, organization work has long been a notable feature of American society - having been remarked upon as early as the 1830's in Baron de Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy.' That tendency continues today, even in times of economic recession. The economic crunch of 1975-76 saw an increase, not a decrease, in American donations to charitable organizations:' specifically, a 6.5 percent increase in charitable donations ($26.88 billion in 1975, compared to $25.23 billion in 1974), though contributions by foundations and businesses declined by 4.7 and 4 percent respectively. Religious charities …


Solving Charity Failures, Brian L. Frye Jan 2014

Solving Charity Failures, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

“Crowdfunding” is a way of using the Internet to raise money by asking the public to contribute to a project. In the past, asking a large number of people to contribute small amounts of money to a project was expensive and inefficient for most organizations and individuals. By greatly reducing transaction costs, crowdfunding enables anyone to inexpensively and efficiently seek small contributions to a project. While crowdfunding is a new model of fundraising, it has already transformed funding for the arts. For example, the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter distributed more than forty million dollars to the creators of almost seventy-five hundred …


What Went Wrong: Prudent Management Of Endowment Funds And Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies, James J. Fishman Jan 2014

What Went Wrong: Prudent Management Of Endowment Funds And Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Most colleges and universities of all sizes have an endowment, a fund that provides a stream of income and maintains the corpus of the fund in perpetuity. Organizations with large endowments, such as colleges, universities, and private foundations, all finance a significant part of their operations through the return received from the investment of this capital. This article examines the legal framework for endowment investing, endowment investing policies, their evolution to more sophisticated and riskier strategies, and the consequences evinced during the financial crisis of 2008 and beyond. It traces the approaches to endowment investing and chronicles the rise and, …


Wrong Way Corrigan And Recent Developments In The Nonprofit Landscape: A Need For New Legal Approaches, James J. Fishman Jan 2007

Wrong Way Corrigan And Recent Developments In The Nonprofit Landscape: A Need For New Legal Approaches, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay argues that some of the assumptions by which we view and regulate the nonprofit sector are traveling, as did Wrong Way Corrigan, in the wrong direction. This is due to faulty assumptions about the nonprofit universe, overreactions to perceived problems, and a reluctance to consider innovative approaches to existing problems. This essay examines some of the erroneous assumptions, discusses recent legislative initiatives, and suggests that there is a need for more than incremental approaches when considering the nonprofit landscape. It argues that regulation of fiduciary behavior should be at the local level, or a combination of local and …


The Nonprofit Sector: Myths And Realities, James J. Fishman Jan 2006

The Nonprofit Sector: Myths And Realities, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Transcript from Who Profits from Nonprofits? A Symposium on Nonprofit Organizations. I have followed the development of CUNY Law School from its founding, and I really have to salute you. I do not know exactly where legal education is going, but I think CUNY is going to get there before other law schools, including my own. Today, I am going to explore some of the myths and realities of the nonprofit sector.


Unreasonable Conditions Impeding Our Nation's Charities: An Unconstitutional Condition In The Combined Federal Campaign, Amy K. Ryder Wentz Jan 2006

Unreasonable Conditions Impeding Our Nation's Charities: An Unconstitutional Condition In The Combined Federal Campaign, Amy K. Ryder Wentz

Cleveland State Law Review

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is an annual charity drive in which profit organizations that receive funds through the CFC to compare the names of their employees against the names on terrorist watch lists and then notify the federal government of any matches. If an organization refuses to abide by this mandate, it is prohibited from soliciting and receiving donations through the CFC. This new requirement presents a question of first impression for the courts When the issue makes its way into a courtroom, the courts may be tempted to follow the analysis of Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and …


Charitable Accountability And Reform In Nineteenth Century England: The Case Of The Charity Commission, James J. Fishman Jan 2005

Charitable Accountability And Reform In Nineteenth Century England: The Case Of The Charity Commission, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Why is it so difficult to carry out effective institutional change? Why did the principle of charitable accountability, a nearly unanimously supported ideal, ring so hollow in practice? This Article offers hypotheses about the difficulties of administrative reform, through the prism of the nineteenth century, which may apply to contemporary issues of charitable accountability.


Charitable State Registration And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Charles Nave Jan 2004

Charitable State Registration And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Charles Nave

William Mitchell Law Review

Charitable solicitation in the U.S. is regulated by “the several States.” For most of the nation's history, charities tended to be local endeavors, raising money and providing relief in their immediate vicinities. In the latter half of the twentieth century, charities increasingly grew beyond these local origins as new technologies enabled even the smallest charities to develop a national reach with direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. Nevertheless, primary authority for regulating charitable solicitations remained with the states.


Note: Get The Balance Right: Finding An Equilibrium Between Charitable Solicitation, Fraud, And The First Amendment In Illinois Ex Rel. Madigan V. Telemarketing Associates, Inc., 538 U.S. 600 (2003), Christopher R. Sullivan Jan 2004

Note: Get The Balance Right: Finding An Equilibrium Between Charitable Solicitation, Fraud, And The First Amendment In Illinois Ex Rel. Madigan V. Telemarketing Associates, Inc., 538 U.S. 600 (2003), Christopher R. Sullivan

William Mitchell Law Review

This Note first examines the history of the relevant law in the areas of fraud, charitable solicitation, and prior restraints. Specifically, it examines the three leading cases on regulation of charitable fundraising speech: Schaumburg, Munson, and Riley. Next, the Note discusses the history and holding of Illinois ex rel. Madigan v. Telemarketing Associates, Inc. Next, this Note will explore the holding in Telemarketing Associates in light of Schaumburg and its progeny. This analysis includes a survey of recent and pending fraud litigation against charities and their fundraisers, and a review of the Federal Trade Commission's “Operation Phoney Philanthropy.” Finally, the …


Tax-Exempt Organizations And Internet Commerce: The Application Of The Royalty And Volunteer Exceptions To Unrelated Business Taxable Income, Leeanna Izuel, Leslie Y. Park Jan 2004

Tax-Exempt Organizations And Internet Commerce: The Application Of The Royalty And Volunteer Exceptions To Unrelated Business Taxable Income, Leeanna Izuel, Leslie Y. Park

William Mitchell Law Review

The Internet has created new opportunities for both large and small tax-exempt organizations (EOs) to raise funds through relationships with online vendors and “charity malls.” EOs provide hyperlinks to online vendors' websites through affiliate arrangements. In return, EOs receive payments based on a percentage of sales made at the vendor websites attributable to the EOs' hyperlinks. EOs also enter into payment arrangements with charity malls. Charity malls are commercial websites that provide hyperlinks to online vendors and attract consumers by pledging to donate a percentage of any purchases made through the malls to charity. There is no express authority stating …


Opining On The 501(C)(3) Tax-Free Bond Transaction: Avoiding Common Borrower's Counsel Misconceptions, Gina M. Torielli Jan 2004

Opining On The 501(C)(3) Tax-Free Bond Transaction: Avoiding Common Borrower's Counsel Misconceptions, Gina M. Torielli

William Mitchell Law Review

There are two areas where borrowers’ counsel can easily misstep when representing a charitable organization in a tax-exempt bond deal. The first is failing to recognize that “private business use” under § 145 can (and does) result in situations that would not constitute an “unrelated trade or business” of the borrower. The second occurs when borrowers’ counsel conflate the test for “unrelated business taxable income” under § 512 with the use of “unrelated trades or businesses” in the definition of a qualified 501(c)(3) bond under § 145. A mistake in either of these areas could lead to an erroneous opinion …


Decoupling Tax Exemption For Charitable Organizations, Charles A. Borek Jan 2004

Decoupling Tax Exemption For Charitable Organizations, Charles A. Borek

William Mitchell Law Review

[T]his article proposes a new approach to defining the term “charitable” for tax purposes that both respects the essence of tax-exempt eleemosynary activity and injects an element of clarity that has eluded the use of the term in modern tax parlance. Part I traces the evolution of the legal concept of charity, with emphasis on the shift in focus from poverty relief to social action facilitated through the device of trust law. I argue that it is in this shift of emphasis that the concept of charity became entangled in property concepts and thereby transformed into something wholly unrelated to …


Improving Charitable Accountability, James J. Fishman Jan 2003

Improving Charitable Accountability, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article focuses upon a persistent problem of the nonprofit sector--its lack of accountability to the public. Director, officer, and organizational responsibilities will be analyzed. Past and current approaches to secure accountability of charitable assets will be discussed, and a proposal for improving charitable accountability will be suggested through the creation of public-private charity commissions at the state level under the aegis of the attorney general.


State Regulation Of Charitable Solicitation, Elaine Waterhouse Wilson Jul 1998

State Regulation Of Charitable Solicitation, Elaine Waterhouse Wilson

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Corporate Philanthropy And The Business Benefit: The Need For Clarity, Shelby D. Green Jan 1990

Corporate Philanthropy And The Business Benefit: The Need For Clarity, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The need for clarity or harmony is the subject of this essay. Part II summarizes a philosophical debate between two scholars on the mission of the corporation. Part III briefly traces the historical development of the relevant principles and Part IV examines the actual philanthropic practices of several large publicly held corporations. Finally, Part V considers the continuing significance of the common law rule in light of these practices and urges support for the ALI proposal.