MLC Resources
To start, this page will host a wide variety of free resources for non-profits, their leaders, and advisors, including guides to the services we offer, the law we specialize in, and best practices for non-profits.
As MLC grows, we will continue to add more resources — keep an eye on the Blog for updates.
A Guide to Choosing Between Fiscal Sponsorship And a New 501(c)(3)
This guide walks through the pros and cons of establishing a fiscal sponsorship, as opposed to creating and applying for exemption for a new 501(c)(3) organization. It also includes a chart articulating the differences between Model A and Model C Fiscal Sponsorship. We hope this helps people with a big dream for a charitable project evaluate the best way to make it happen.
The c3 Series: Political Advocacy by Public Charities (VIDEO)
Our latest resource, by Charli Cleland, is the start of a new VIDEO series to provide a different type of educational resource to charities. We strongly encourage public charities with an interest in political activity (elections, lobbying, issue advocacy, etc.) to check out this great video to get a sense of the DOs and DON’Ts.
NON-PROFIT CORPORATE STRUCTURES: The Basics And Advanced Applications
This newest resource begins with one the more basic but frequently asked questions: what is the difference between directors and officers? And what are members exactly?
While teasing out those concepts, we also walk through the basic options for structuring a non-profit from the most common (the Self-Electing Board) to the most procedure-intensive (the Membership Structure), and the pros and cons for each option. We also discuss a potential hybrid approach that is useful for founders who want some but not total control, or affiliate structures where the for-profit is trying to avoid “related party” status for Form 990 reporting purposes. Altogether, these slides are a good primer for people new to non-profits who want to understand how they work and what they might want.
This resource concludes, in self-indulgent fashion, with a chart that describes our own non-profit affiliate’s cooperative-like corporate structure. Is this critical for the public to understand? Probably not. But, (1) it illustrates that non-profit corporations can actually be very flexible and structured to accomplish an organization’s unique goals, and (2) we are very excited about and love to talk to people about the non-profit cooperative/law-firm-affiliate structure we are making up as we go, because we believe there is a replicable model here for purpose-driven organizations.
Enough about us, and on to the joys of nonprofit corporate law:
Evaluating For-Profit and Non-Profit Affiliates
One of our most common types of project is working with an entrepreneur or an existing company to set up a non-profit affiliate. While there are certainly wrong ways to set up these structures, there are many ways to make them work. This short series of charts walks through general principles when it comes to for-profit and non-profit affiliates, then two “tests” to assess whether they pass muster under the law.
