Keeping our momentum going, I’m pleased to announce a new resource on our MLC Resources page. This time, the topic is “Non-Profit Corporate Structures: The Basis and Advanced Applications.”

I think the intro to the presentation on that page does most of the work, but a few stray thoughts:

One of our main resolutions for the new year for MLC was to start fulfilling our promise to publish resources for non-profits and social entrepreneurs. At some point, this activity will roll over to our non-profit affiliate, MLC Collective, as part of its educational mission when that launches later this year.

Appropriately enough our first resource is actually on the topic of for-profit and non-profit affiliates. In my mind, these are always some of our most interesting projects and often brings us in contact with people with big, exciting ideas, who are passionate about their mission, but wary about whether a non-profit structure can be too limiting.

There are definitely pitfalls in the area, but I’m generally an optimist when it comes to making these structures work, which is why we are starting our own non-profit affiliate in the first place. In the course of advising clients, we have developed our own way of thinking about these projects. After having had this conversation countless time, I thought now would be a good time to put into writing and pictures to share it a bit more broadly (though we are always happy to bombard anyone who wants to talk about this with us with even more information and ideas).

There are times when I read over the most recent batch of IRS 501(c)(3) denial rulings and shed a tear (figuratively speaking, of course) for the shattered dreams of well-intentioned but misguided applicants. This is not one of those times.

There was a batch of six IRS denial rulings that came across my desk, and I will probably cover at least a few of the other five eventually. But my penchant for schadenfreude drew me to the one that mentioned blatant partisan campaign intervention and prohibited benefits to a multi-level marketing company. And honestly, it’s much worse than that.

Let’s do a quick recap as an excuse to cover these two issues, one of which is as “black-and-white” as they come (electioneering) while the other (managing private benefit so that a relationship to an affiliated for-profit does not cost the 501(c)(3) its exempt status) is typically a very gray area and one that we spend a lot of time talking to clients about in order to get the balance right. But, honestly, I just wanted to share some insane facts.