aut umn · 2011 · Five Ways Nonprofits and Their Legal Advisors Can Enjoy Year-End The trees are showing their fall colors, reminding 2 | Giving Gifts us that soon the calendar year will end, bringing Many organizations take the opportunity at year- holiday celebrations for many and fiscal challenges end to thank clients and professional colleagues. for most. Here are five legal issues that can arise While exchanging small food gifts or other tokens near the end of the year, along with suggestions of appreciation can be appropriate, nonprofit for how nonprofit organizations can manage them managers should avoid accepting extravagant gifts successfully. from vendors and other for-profit entities that 1 | Dealing with Donors may create the appearance or reality of private inurement. Giving gifts to federal, state, and local Mindful that tax-deductible gifts factor into indi- officials should be avoided altogether, unless the vidual tax planning, many tax-exempt organiza- government ethics rules are checked and followed. tions conduct year-end fundraising campaigns. For example, New York State employees cannot Acknowledging charitable contributions is a legal accept gifts of more than nominal value if it could requirement for certain gifts and good donor be reasonably inferred that the gift was intended relations for all gifts. While the Internal Revenue to influence the recipient. Service permits donors to use their own bank records to document contributions under $250, 3 | Enhancing Employee Relations donors must obtain a contemporaneous written Religious diversity is highlighted because the calen- acknowledgment from the charity to claim a dar creates a time of celebration for many religions deduction for contributions of $250 or more. If and cultures. Employers must be sensitive to the the payment is more than $75 and is partly a fact that different employees may observe different contribution and partly in exchange for goods or holidays, and some may not celebrate any year-end services, the charity is obliged to provide written holiday. Religion is a protected category under documentation. To learn more about fundraising federal and state discrimination laws, and favoring regulation, register for Lawyers Alliance for one type of celebration or excluding another can New York’s November 2 workshop, “Raising be problematic. If planning a year-end office Funds Within the Rules: The Law of the Ask,” party, nonprofit managers should be as inclusive at www.lawyersalliance.org/workshops.php. as possible, use a generic title, and ensure that continued on page four INSIDE Planning for EarlyLearn NYC also: New Board Members Law Firm Appeal Alum Profile: S. Anita Sinha Staff Profile: Neil Stevenson Photo: Laura Dwight www.lawyersalliance.org Lawyers Alliance Law Firm Appeal Continues to Climb Board of Directors The 2010-2011 law firm appeal raised $652,050, setting a new record. Lawyers Alliance thanks Thomas H. Kennedy (Chair) Skadden, Arps, Slate, our two outstanding appeal co-chairs Robert C. Sheehan and Thomas H. Kennedy of Skadden, Meagher & Flom LLP Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for their leadership. Each year, the appeal helps to underwrite John D. Lobrano (Vice Chair) direct legal services and educational resources for more than 600 New York nonprofit organiza- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP tions. Lawyers Alliance thanks the following 58 law firms for their generous support: William F. Lloyd (Treasurer) Deloitte LLP Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP Paul, Hastings, Janofsky Celayne G. Hill (Secretary) Allen & Overy LLP Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, & Walker LLP Local Initiatives Support Arnold & Porter LLP Mackauf, Bloom & Rubinowitz Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Corporation Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP Goodwin Procter LLP Pittman LLP Joshua Berick Becker, Glynn, Melamed Greenberg Traurig, LLP Proskauer Rose LLP Linklaters LLP & Muffly LLP Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Kimberly Brown Blacklow Bernstein Litowitz Berger Jones Day Seyfarth Shaw LLP Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP & Grossmann, LLP Kaye Scholer LLP Shearman & Sterling LLP Bingham McCutchen LLP Ezra Borut Kirkland & Ellis LLP Sidley Austin LLP BuckleySandler LLP Debevoise & Plimpton LLP Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Glynna K. Christian Linklaters LLP Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Winston & Strawn LLP Caplin & Drysdale Mayer Brown LLP & Flom LLP Ariel J. Deckelbaum Chadbourne & Parke LLP McCarter & English, LLP SNR Denton Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Cleary Gottlieb Steen Stillman, Friedman & Garrison LLP & Hamilton LLP McDermott Will & Emery LLP Menaker & Herrmann LLP & Shechtman, P.C. Mike Delikat Condon & Forsyth LLP Orrick, Herrington & Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Sutcliffe LLP Debevoise & Plimpton LLP Morrison & Foerster LLP Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Colin J. Diamond Dechert LLP Nixon Peabody LLP Sutherland White & Case LLP Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Blair M. Duncan Duane Morris LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP White & Case LLP Upper Manhattan Outten & Golden LLP Winston & Strawn LLP Empowerment Zone Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver Development Corporation & Jacobson LLP Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP Louis S. Ederer Arnold & Porter LLP David J. Gilberg Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Mark Hoenig Board of Directors Benefits from Additions Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Brian Krisberg Lawyers Alliance for New York is pleased to tures and negotiates outsourcing transactions, Sidley Austin LLP announce the appointment of three new members including those related to information technology Leor Landa Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP to its Board of Directors. and business process, and complex commercial Clare O’Brien Kimberly Brown Blacklow, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb relationships. She is an active pro bono attorney Shearman & Sterling LLP Steen & Hamilton LLP for art and youth organizations. John R. O’Neil Kirkland & Ellis LLP Ms. Blacklow’s practice focuses on real estate and John R. O’Neil, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP Neil Radey other asset-based finance transactions as well as Mr. O’Neil concentrates his practice on represent- Credit Suisse structured finance and capital markets transac- ing both domestic and international sponsors Ira I. Roxland tions in both the U.S. and abroad. Early in her of leading private equity, venture capital, hedge SNR Denton legal career, she was a Cleary Extern at Lawyers and other private investment funds. He has Stuart M. Saft Alliance. She currently chairs her law firm’s represented sponsors in numerous billion dollar Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP Community Legal Assistance Committee. private equity fund formations, as well as assisted Glynna K. Christian, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP clients with a wide range of ongoing operational Ms. Christian advises clients on legal and busi- as well as extraordinary events involving private ness issues relating to commercial and corporate investment funds. He is an active volunteer in transactions with a particular focus on technol- underserved communities in the United States and ogy, media, and telecommunications. She struc- abroad. 2 Early Childhood Education Providers Plan for EarlyLearn NYC New York City is fortunate to have a vibrant early targeted areas. One center will contract with ACS as childhood education community serving 42,000 lead agency for slots for all three centers, and the other EarlyLearn NYC will low-income children. Funded primarily through two will be subcontractors. Lawyers Alliance staff and radically restructure contracts with the Administration for Children’s volunteer attorneys from the New York University Services (“ACS”), children are cared for in a Law School Business Law Transactions Clinic are the methods of variety of settings: center-based care, home-based working with the lead center to draft a memorandum care, Head Start, and Universal Pre-Kindergarten. of understanding and collaboration agreements service delivery to should the ACS contract be awarded. This summer ACS released the EarlyLearn NYC children and the request for funding proposal (“EarlyLearn RFP”) Governance. EarlyLearn will require contractors method of payment that will radically restructure the methods of to create a parent/caretaker body to work with the service delivery to children and the method of provider on program planning and decision making. to providers payment to providers. Changes include shifting Providers will be required to recruit an early health care and other operating costs from ACS childhood education professional, lawyer, and to the providers and combining ACS-funded day finance professional to serve on their boards. In care, Head Start, and Universal Pre-K services addition, their boards will be required to conduct into single, blended contracts. Early childhood annual reviews of self-assessment, enrollment, and education providers are considering how they can recruitment. Organizational bylaws may need continue to serve children within the financial to be amended to reflect these new governance and program constraints of EarlyLearn. Lawyers requirements. Lawyers Alliance regularly assists Alliance will work with providers on a range of nonprofits with bylaws amendments. legal issues throughout the implementation of Case Example: Lexington Children’s Center (“LCC”) EarlyLearn changes. operates a day care center in East Harlem