For over a century, Chambliss attorneys have served and counseled charitable and public purpose organizations making positive, lasting impacts on their communities.

We are driven by our commitment to community and dedication to helping clients reach their goals to provide the best possible solutions for charitable organizations (including public charities and private foundations), quasi governmental and public entities, and as a subgroup thereof nonprofit and public purpose health care providers including hospice providers, mental health facilities (providing developmental and intellectual disability services), and hospitals. Our experience runs deep with significant involvement in matters including basic governance, tax compliance, contracting and grant compliance, health care related compliance, sunshine act issues, mergers and acquisitions, and other complex matters.

For nearly 30 years, we have built and strived to build personal relationships with our clients. Those relationships enable us as a trusted partner to blend effective legal advice with a perspective for practical solutions to help clients efficiently accomplish operational goals and navigate compliance related concerns. On any given day we may counsel a large health care provider on how to accomplish an acquisition; advise a church how to set up and handle the operation of a coffee shop; guide a private foundation through minimum distribution requirements; form and organize a tax exempt, public charity organization; and volunteer our time to a community organization serving nonprofits.

We take great pride in the fact that our knowledge and skill base is not limited to understanding only the legal perspective for nonprofit and public organizations. Many of our attorneys, and especially those practicing in the area, serve on civic and charitable boards and otherwise volunteer their time gaining valuable practical perspective about what it means to try and effectively operate a charitable or public organization. In this regard, our attorneys serve on boards or volunteer for organizations including chambers of commerce, United Way, private foundations, and public charity organizations (such as food banks, arts related organizations and health service providers).

What We See on the Horizon

• Mergers and combinations for shared services are on the rise. We often work with clients to help them develop strategic decisions related to overlapping service missions, plans for best leveraging scarce resources, and "business combinations" that best address needs including joint ventures, mergers, and the like.

• We are seeing an increased benefit for nonprofits to operate like a "for-profit." The ability to leverage efficiencies and help create a bottom line will also sustain mission driven outcomes. The approach does not mean that efforts are geared only at maximizing stakeholder value but also that a nonprofit bring business like approaches to operations to assure the proper preservation and use of charitable assets toward a mission. Often times, these efforts can create the need to consider ancillary issues such as compliance issues and unrelated business taxable income.

A Snapshot of Our Depth

Our attorneys provide customized counsel to an array of organizations, including:

• Public charities
• Social welfare organizations
• Civic leagues and chambers
• Social enterprise organizations
• Private schools
• Colleges and universities
• Trade associations
• Churches and religious ministries
• Credit unions and farm credit associations
• Nonprofit health service providers (hospice, hospital, and mental health)
• Private foundations
• Community-based advocacy groups