Nonprofit Mergers, Acquisitions and Dissolutions

Nonprofit Mergers, Acquisitions and Dissolutions

Thursday, February 16 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | Webinar

Presented by: Don Kramer, Esq and Catherine Gillespie, Esq

Moderated by: Tish Mogan, Standards for Excellence Director, PANO

Offered in Partnership with: Nonprofit Issues

*CPE & CLE credits are available for this program for accountants and lawyers; to receive credit you must register through Nonprofit Issues.

As nonprofits emerge from the Covid era, many are wondering what path forward provides the best possibility of continuing and improving their ability to fulfill their mission. They have struggled with their finances. They have lost staff. The external world has changed. For many executives and their boards, burnout is real. Any yet, the need for their work continues, and is often growing.

The return to relative normalcy provides an opportunity for nonprofits to consider whether they should emerge from the relative silo of their operations and expand their collaborations, perhaps even to the point of an actual merger with a complimentary organization. Thinking about it can be an intimidating prospect, but may be necessary if the organizations want to continue and thrive.

This webinar will discuss the many considerations along the way from collaboration to merger. It will walk through the personal opportunities and legal minefields involved in making such changes. It will discuss the various alternative legal relationships and the kind of "due diligence" investigation appropriate for considering a new way of doing business. It will discuss the types of procedures necessary to accomplish the goals, including the possible requirement for approval from the state Attorney General. And it will discuss the steps that many may be forced to take, if nothing else makes sense, to dissolve the organization and go out of business.

We will put these considerations in the context of real-life situations so that participants considering any new fundamental change can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives.

*CPE & CLE credits are available for this program for accountants and lawyers; to receive credit you must register through Nonprofit Issues.

Single Login Cost:
$45 per person for PANO Members | $100 per person for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation
Your purchase entitles you to a single login. Please do not share the login information with others, as it may interfere with your ability to join. If multiple individuals from your organization would like to view the webinar, please purchase separate tickets for each person or consider a group screening ticket (below).

Group Screening Cost (4-10 individuals):
$150 per group for PANO Members | $333 per group for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation
If you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar, please have one person register selecting the group ticket. You can then enter the names and email addresses of up to 10 individuals to add to your group ticket.

This option makes the most sense when you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar. For fewer than 4 attendees, a single login ticket for each person is the most cost-effective option. For more than 10 attendees, please email Christina at christina@pano.org to discuss options.

Materials & Login/Call-In Instructions:
Materials (PowerPoint and other handouts), along with instructions on how to login and call-in, will be emailed to attendees a few days prior to the date of the webinar. PANO uses Zoom as our webinar platform; you can familiarize yourself with Zoom and/or join a test meeting prior to these sessions.

Can’t attend? All webinar registrants will receive a recording of the webinar following the live session!

About the Facilitators

Donald W. Kramer serves as chair of Montgomery McCracken’s Nonprofit practice group.

Don has more than 45 years of experience dealing with the concerns of nonprofit organizations, not only as a lawyer, but also as a teacher, writer, publisher, and board member. He has worked with nonprofits of all types and sizes, helping structure startup situations and restructure multiorganizational health and educational systems. He counsels on a wide range of nonprofit corporate structure and governance, private and community foundations, continuing care retirement communities, exempt organization taxation, low-income housing tax credit transactions, real estate, charitable giving, and other nonprofit issues. Don has provided legal services to The Philadelphia Foundation for more than 40 years.Don serves as the editor and publisher of Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues®, a national newsletter of “Nonprofit Law You Need to Know,” which he founded in 1989. Prior to joining Montgomery McCracken in 1972, Don served as deputy development coordinator and assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia.

Catherine H. Gillespie focuses on higher education law, health care, and corporate and tax law issues generally affecting nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. Cathy’s work with colleges and universities includes advice on the interpretation and implementation of FERPA, the Clery Act, HIPAA and the Americans with Disabilities Act. She regularly advises colleges and universities on a wide-range of matters, including student-related matters; grievance procedures; drafting faculty policies and procedures; writing and reviewing contracts; compliance with federal and state regulations; real estate tax and other charitable exemption issues; drafting amendments to bylaws and articles of incorporation; and governance issues. Cathy is also involved with bond financings as the college or university’s counsel. Due to her prior experience as a social worker in the health care field and her legal training, Cathy understands health care professions and organizations and regularly works with 501(c) health care entities to advise them on board governance and structure, state and federal regulatory compliance, licensure issues, contractual arrangements, and day-to-day business operations.