Groups of federal employees called agencies make rules that often impact daily life for faith-based organizations. During the rulemaking process, the public is invited to review and provide comment on a proposed rule, including any questions and concerns. The attached question-and-answer document will help your organization participate in this important process to ensure that agencies understand and respond to the perspectives of faith-based organizations in their rulemaking.

Take stock of your nonprofit’s strengths and weaknesses with this easy-to-use checklist. Broad topics such as “how well does your organization live out its religious identity” and “how strong are our corporate governance practices” are broken down into actionable “yes” or “no” questions that help you assess your vulnerabilities and strengths. For each section, the assessment provides links to Napa Legal resources that will help your organization address your weaknesses and identify opportunities for growth.

From time to time, your organization may have the opportunity to buy products or services from a director, officer, or other interested person. Because such arrangements are conflicted transactions, special diligence and board pre-approval are necessary. This example document shows the best practices for board approval of a conflicted transaction. Work with an attorney to customize this resource to reflect your organization's needs and applicable law. Also see the companion article to this resource, Conflicts of Interest: Avoiding Common Mistakes.

A director who is also a technology executive offers to sell technology from his company to a nonprofit school at cost. A director who runs an interior design firm offers to consult for a nonprofit women’s center at a steep discount. The organizations will be getting the best deal on the market. Must the board review and approve these transactions before the organization can take advantage of the great opportunities?

The legal profession is suffering a deep existential crisis. To many who live and practice the law, this is a self-evident truth. To those who do not, but who nonetheless rely on legal professionals, the idea of “good counsel” has been reduced to a mere transaction between client and attorney, with the former often viewing the latter as little more than an expensive technocrat who exists to solve their problems.

This essay is adapted from remarks given by Napa Legal's President and General Counsel, John C. Peiffer II, at the launch of the Good Counselor Project in Washington, D.C.

This essay is adopted and edited from remarks delivered by Luke Macik at the launch of The Good Counselor Project, which took place in Washington, D.C. on October 14, 2021. Mr. Macik serves as The Good Counselor Project’s seminar leader.

Donors seeking to support faith-based organizations should use this self-assessment. The assessment helps users give in a way that both aligns with their faith and responsibly stewards their financial resources. Faith-based organizations can also use this tool to work with interested donors, so the two can identify mutually beneficial giving options.

After many recent months of excess stress and anxiety, attorneys can find solace and healing in a return to gratitude and the call to serve as a “good counselor.” Even pre-pandemic, many attorneys experienced dangerously high rates of mental suffering, with sadness and stress escalating into anxiety and depression.

Charitable organizations can now provide their donors with additional privacy and protection, thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling. Effective July 1, 2021, state charitable regulators can no longer force charitable organizations to disclose their donor names...

A tech company's “community guidelines” can be used to justify cutting off service to faith-based organizations whose values do not align with secular liberalism. This report surveys the user agreements employed by tech vendors and catalogues the scope of power these vendors reserve to enforce their corporate values through their user agreements.

At the end of its 2020-2021 Term, on June 17, the Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated judgment in favor of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s foster care placement agency. The judgment in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia was unanimous, with the Court’s majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts. Two concurring opinions, written by Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, signaled interest among a majority of the justices to revisit the Court’s precedent so far as it relates to religious objections to generally applicable laws.

Faith-based nonprofits should provide their directors with an onboarding package containing key documents related to the organization and its operations. This onboarding package will help directors understand the organization so that they can provide accurate and helpful guidance

The case Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania made headlines last week as an important victory for faith-based organizations. Leaders of faith-based nonprofits must take concrete steps to adjust to this new development in religious liberty law.

Those who lead or support a faith-based nonprofit should endeavor to choose vendors whose business philosophy aligns with the nonprofit’s mission and values or at least does not actively contradict them. Failing to do so can harm...

Nonprofits, just like commercial corporations, have names, symbols and designs that identify the nonprofit as the source of a good or service. These identifying words, phrases, logos, and designs are trademarks. Simply put, a trademark identifies to the public

Economic uncertainty and financial pressures can make pursuing a religious, charitable, or educational mission difficult. However, a number of legal solutions are available to help an organization turn these challenges into opportunities to serve and to pursue the organization's mission with more dedication and efficiency. Learn about joint ventures, mergers, consolidations, shared services and facilities agreements, dissolutions, and bankruptcy.

Two 501(c)(3) nonprofits will advocate for First Amendment protections for nonprofits and their donors before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, April 26. The nonprofits, Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Thomas More Law Center, challenge a California charities regulation that requires most nonprofits fundraising in California to give...

Use this step-by-step action plan to respond quickly and effectively to a de-platforming. An organized response will minimize the harm a de-platforming will inflict on your organization and those you serve.

What happens if a social media provider de-platforms my organization? If a social media provider de-platforms your organization, you lose some or all access to your account with that provider.[1] In some instances, your organization’s account...

Big Tech's unpredictable de-platforming of faith-based organizations and their leaders has become so frequent that faith-based organizations can no longer rely on continuous service from these companies, particularly social media providers. Faith leaders must respond decisively to the changed landscape.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia are failing to prioritize clergy in their vaccine rollouts despite federal guidance. This report from Napa Legal details the issue so that negligent states can update their distribution plans to ensure that clergy are not forgotten as essential workers.

The mandatory paid leave programs created under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (“FFCRA”) ended on December 31, 2020. However, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“2021 Act”), signed into law on December 27, 2020, allows for voluntary paid leave and tax credits for employers for a limited period of time and makes other changes that will affect the workplace for all employers, including nonprofits.