Nonprofit Law Prof Blog

Administration of Charitable Trusts in Florida

Alex Espenkotter and Jennifer Facarazzo published Administration of Trusts in Florida: Charitable Trusts (Ch. 16).  Here is the introduction:

Charitable trusts are excellent vehicles for persons with philanthropic intentions to effectively give money to their favorite charitable causes while obtaining valuable tax benefits. Not to be overlooked, however, is the need for proper implementation and administration of these entities. “[F]or the estate planning attorney, [trustee,] and financial planner, a thorough study of the issues surrounding charitable... trusts is an imperative to their successful utilization.” Callister, Charitable Remainder Trusts: An Overview, 51 Tax Law. 549, 569 (1998). This chapter addresses various aspects of charitable trust formation and administration.

Initially, the discussion focuses on the numerous specific federal requirements and restrictions that must be followed and adhered to for proper administration of charitable trusts. The various types of charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts are discussed in detail. Next, the chapter discusses the payment of annuity and unitrust amounts under various charitable trust arrangements. Thereafter, the availability of the charitable deduction and its computation is covered. Following that is a discussion of the income tax consequences associated with various charitable trusts. The focus then shifts to application of the private foundation rules to charitable trusts. The chapter concludes by addressing the duties and powers of trustees and the compensation for trustees and attorneys of charitable trusts. These latter two subjects are also discussed in depth in Chapters 2 and 13, respectively, of this manual. For a discussion of the modification of charitable trusts, see §8.16 of this manual.

For the entire chapter, see Administration of Trusts in Florida: Charitable Trusts (Ch. 16) (available at the Florida Bar website CLE section).

DAB

Six Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations

On March 14, 2008, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article about a new book - "Forces of Good" by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant - on the six best practices for nonprofit organizations.  Here is an excerpt from the text of the article:

• Advocate and serve. Crutchfield and Grant say the best in the world of nonprofits bridge the divide between service and advocacy. An example is the expansion of a North Carolina agency call Self-Help. It started as an agency assisting the needy in building houses and grew to become a powerful advocate for predatory-lending policy reforms across the country.

• Making markets work. Nonprofits succeed when they embrace an entrepreneurial spirit. Often disavowed by nonprofits, Environmental Defense partnered with fast-food giant McDonalds. The result was a dramatic reduction of the company's solid wastes by encouraging the switch to environmentally friendly materials.

• Inspire evangelism. This is done when volunteers see their role beyond fundraising and advice to that of missionaries helping sustain the group's mission. Habitat for Humanity exemplifies this through its meteoric rise from local Georgia roots to a global organization with a $1 billion budget that has successfully mobilized the public worldwide.

• Nurture nonprofit networks. Collaboration is not a common practice among nonprofits and yet the authors are emphatic that the best nonprofits thrive when they share their wealth, expertise and talents with their peers. The Exploratorium in San Francisco is cited for its collaborative success from its informal network.

• Master the art of adaptation. Demonstrating the willingness to make drastic changes to affect the overall goals of an organization is key to nonprofit success. Share Our Strength switched from direct mail to special events for fundraising, yielding extraordinary results for the organization.

• Share leadership. Recognized as one of the attributes that is paramount to becoming a force for good, sharing leadership is more about developing others and a team orientation within the organization and even the board.

For the entire article, see "Finally, the 'Good to Great Book' for non-profits" in the March 14, 2008, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

DAB

Sidney Watson Publishes Review of Two Books on Medicaid and "Charity" Care in America

In December 2007, Professor Sidney Watson (St. Louis) published a law review article that contains reviews of two recently published books - Jonathan Engel's Poor People's Medicine: Medicaid and American Charity Care Since 1965 (Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press, 2006) and Ronald J. Angel's Poor Families in America's Health Care Crisis (New York, NY: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006).  Here is the introductory paragraph of the article:

Two new books examine Medicaid--one from a historical perspective and the other through a socioanthropological lens. Poor People's Medicine offers the view from the top: a history of Medicaid and charity care that focuses primarily on national policy developments. Poor Families in America's Health Care Crisis offers the view from the bottom: ethnographic interviews of poor families who discuss Medicaid and charity care from their vantage point at the bottom of the economy. Both books acknowledge Medicaid's many successes in improving access to medical care and the health status of America's poor, yet each reveals how America's deep and long-standing ambivalence toward the poor has produced a deeply flawed Medicaid program.

To see the full article, go to Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law at 32 J. Health Pol. Pol'y & L. 1053.

DAB