Led by the Council on Foundations Legal Team, this workshop is flexibly organized to ensure that your broad legal questions for administering funds, grants, and community foundation activities are addressed. The legal team will provide technical and practical understanding of complex rules and regulations.
This training is a preconference event at Leading Locally 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Training Hours
- June 9: 1:00-5:00 p.m. Central
- June 10: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Central
Throughout the training, sessions will include:
- Insight from Council's top-notch legal team that interacts with nearly 2,000 foundation leaders each year
- Trends spotted by our broader team, including National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations
- Timely, relevant take on the basics that informs day-to-day business decisions and operations
- Expertise to advance your knowledge of the organization's inner workings--from admin to governance, donor stewardship to grantmaking.
With each session, there will be time for questions and a deep exploration of the answers. This workshop is open to any board or staff member from any community foundation that is eager to dive into the legalities of our business model and unlock the truth to effective management and leadership of a community foundation.
Topics
Specific topics will be defined in advance of the workshop as attendees begin to submit ideas, pressing issues, and assist with the defining of sessions. This event is designed to be time sensitive and relevant to current issues. The format will be discussion-oriented, question and answer-based learning alongside peer sharing.
- General Overview of new rules, regulations, and developments for CFs – Discuss latest new rules and regulations affecting community foundations.
- Topics will vary based on current events and attendee requests, but often cover topics such H.R. 3988 (universal deductions), CARES Act, Updated Charity Act, Tax Deductibility, UPMIFA and related public policy trends.
- Small Group Discussions & Deep Dives with Attorneys: Most common legal complexities facing community foundations – Assessing the most common inquiries from the field nationally, Council attorneys will delve into pressing subjects and issues such as DAFs and permissible grantees, current laws and basic rules regulating DAFs, Notice 2017-73 regarding DAFs, variance power, expenditure responsibility, agency funds, and geographic affiliates.
- Trends and Challenges from the Field – Council experts will share the trending narratives shaping conversations in board rooms as well as the most common challenges shared among community foundations.
- Small Group & Deep Dive with Attorneys: Most common legal complexities facing community foundations – Assessing the most common inquiries from the field nationally, Council attorney Ben McDearmon will delve into pressing subjects and issues such as scholarships, hardship and disaster relief funds, and new rules, regulations and developments in the sector.
Who Should Attend
This workshop is open to any board or staff member from any community foundation that is eager to dive into the legalities of a foundation’s business model and unlock effective management and leadership. Attendees ideally should have been with their current organization for more than a few months and attended CFE Fundamentals before this training.
Cancellation Policy
All registration cancellations must be submitted in writing to educate@cof.org. All cancellation refunds before February 18, 2025 will incur a 25% administrative fee per registration. No refunds will be provided after February 18, 2025.
