Five-minute general counsel: can a nonprofit change mission?

By Rick Colosimo / October 15, 2010 / Comments Off on Five-minute general counsel: can a nonprofit change mission?

This LinkedIn question asked about mission drift for non-profits. There are a couple different layers of answer, depending on what’s going on and who’s asking. First, the fundamental concern: will the change of mission jeopardize nonprofit status (and that typically means jeopardize 501(c)(3) status, which means deductibility of donations by donors)? The answer depends on…

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Draft better contracts by paying attention to words

By Rick Colosimo / October 12, 2010 / Comments Off on Draft better contracts by paying attention to words

This post on the use of the term immediately, one of many similar explorations by Ken Adams, is the sort of thing that attracts me to contract drafting. There is a lot to be said for using the right language to convey an idea: language that is clear, concise, hard to misconstrue, and simple without…

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Mentor corner: Law school or business school?

By Rick Colosimo / September 20, 2010 / Comments Off on Mentor corner: Law school or business school?

I recently answered a LinkedIn question from a young lady asking whether an MBA or a JD was a better choice. (I won’t link the question since most of the responses were utterly misinformed and won’t even accidentally spread that nonsense.) I get asked this question, and questions about choosing law schools, pretty often. My…

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Five-minute general counsel: should I be a social enterprise?

By Rick Colosimo / September 9, 2010 / Comments Off on Five-minute general counsel: should I be a social enterprise?

Here’s a question on quasi-nonprofits that I’ve been hearing more often: Do I need to have a nonprofit status to become a social entrepreneurial enterprise? I found this LinkedIn question to be interesting for two reasons: first, it’s very related to a nonprofit question I field all the time, and second, I have a current…

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