Illinois and Chicago Employment Law Updates 2023

Attorneys who accept the honor and responsibility of nonprofit board participation likely will face a wide variety of expectations about one’s skills, expertise, and ability to contribute meaningfully. This session will help attendees to successfully meet these expectations through addressing directors’ fiduciary duties, understanding related ethical dimensions, and then applying such principles to responsibilities including attorney competence, diligent representation, confidentiality, organizational and other communications, and pro bono service.

How can nonprofits best guard their Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status? What activities may they engage in, and what are potential operational problems? This session addresses key legal compliance aspects along with related do’s and don’ts such as prohibited and restricted politically related activities, private benefit and inurement, potential penalties and revocation issues, applicability and calculation of the requisite “public support” test, additional “unrelated business income taxation” issues, and optimal IRS Form 990 information return reporting in connection with these tax-related areas.

How are nonprofit real estate transactions similar to but different from commercial transactions? To what extent may property tax exemption be available? This session addresses buying, selling, or donating real estate within the nonprofit context, including corporate authorization required for such transaction, potential conflict of interest implications, and related tax and risk management aspects. Additionally, this session will explain legal qualification for religious, educational, and charitable property tax exemption – particularly how it differs from Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, why all the details really matter, and how best to show that fee revenues do not violate the “view to profit” disqualification. Learn how to best structure facility usage arrangements in requisite non-commercial ways, to maximally protect property tax exemption.