Venable's Nonprofit Organizations Practice is pleased to share recent articles, presentations, and video-recorded webinars by our attorneys. This digest brings together some of our most interesting and useful materials, available for your use in tackling the difficult legal challenges facing your organization.
Upcoming Event
Understanding New Global Sanctions and Restrictions and How They Impact Your Overseas Nonprofit Operations
April 14, 2022 | Washington, DC and Webinar
We look forward to welcoming you back in person as we resume our networking luncheon that precedes the program.
Given the recent surge in restrictive sanctions and controls, we invite you to learn how these latest developments in sanctions, import and export controls, and other cross-border regulations may impact your overseas activities. Come learn about these new risk factors, the current and developing changes, and how such risks may arise in your international operations. Hear important tips and traps affecting international operations regarding the movement of goods, people, and resources and new concerns about international payments. The speakers will present practical considerations to enhance your organization’s compliance with regulatory, contractual, and policy demands while mitigating any associated risks.
Notable Articles and Publications
Nonprofit Chapters and Sections: Animating Component Activities while Managing Legal Risk
Nonprofit leaders often struggle with establishing and managing geographically based or special-interest-based chapters or sections. Striking the right balance between control and autonomy is often a struggle. Whether your organization is a national trade or professional association, a public charity, an international NGO, or an issue-based advocacy group, many organizations have relationships with chapters and sections that carry with them unique legal, tax, and management risks.
New FARA Advisory Opinions Should Put Nonprofits on Alert
A flurry of recent advisory opinions from the U.S. Department of Justice's FARA unit, released in February, raise new questions about how the Foreign Agents Registration Act might apply to the nonprofit community. Adding to the uncertainty, these opinions arrive just as momentum is increasing for the DOJ to adopt new regulations to clarify and update the pre-World War II law that has seen aggressive enforcement in the last decade.
Navigating PPP Loan Forgiveness Audits
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is auditing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness applications for both First Draw and Second Draw PPP loans, including for nonprofit organizations that received loans. As part of these audits, the SBA is requesting supporting documentation for the loan calculation, affiliation, the eligible expenses incurred, and the loan necessity analysis. Thus far, SBA audits have focused primarily on loans of $2 million or more, but the SBA may expand its review to smaller loans.
You Asked, We Answered: A Look Back at 2021 and Ahead to 2022 for Nonprofit Grant Recipients
Dismas Locaria, a partner in Venable's Government Contracts Practice, recently hosted a webinar to address hot-button topics for nonprofit grant recipients. He took a look back at 2021, with a focus on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness, the China Initiative, and other regulatory updates. He also answered questions from participants who want to know more about what to expect in 2022.
Nonprofit Organizations Beware: Is This a Legitimate Copyright Infringement Takedown Notice or a Phishing Scam?
Nonprofits should be aware of a troubling trend: phishing emails disguised as legitimate Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Takedown Notices. Hackers use this ruse to grab your attention by accusing you of violating the law. The goal of the scam is to trick you into opening or downloading malicious content that can significantly disrupt IT systems and operations. Because DMCA Takedown Notices are so important and ignoring them can lead to potentially steep money damages, these emails can force an unsuspecting recipient to choose between potentially ignoring a valid notice and facing liability, or clicking the embedded link and falling prey to a phishing scheme.
Ten Legislative and Policy Trends for Licensing Boards and Associations to Watch in 2022
In state capitals across the country, a new year signals the start of a new legislative session. And this opens the door to new rules affecting state regulatory and occupational licensing boards and the practitioners they regulate. Although the legislative process has a reputation for moving slowly, that isn't always the case. To make sure your occupational licensing board and industry stakeholders aren't caught off-guard at the start of the year, consider tracking and preparing for these ten anticipated trends in the current state legislative session.
Webinar in Review: Election Year Considerations for Nonprofits—What Your Organization Needs to Know
Many nonprofit organizations will look to engage in various forms of political activity during the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Understanding how to participate while complying with federal and state laws and regulations governing electoral activities and campaign intervention is vital to the success of a nonprofit organization. In this webinar, Venable partners Lindsay M. Nathan and James E. Tyrrell, III examine key rules, issues, and best practices nonprofits must consider when engaging in such activities.
Are Your Nonprofit’s Remote Member Meetings Still Legal?
For obvious reasons, 2020 paved the way for nonprofit organizations to hold member meetings remotely, many for the first time. While some associations and other nonprofit organizations have chosen to stick with the flexibility offered by remote meetings, the latter half of 2021 saw other nonprofit organizations eagerly resuming in-person meetings. In light of our collective advancement through the Greek alphabet of COVID-19 variants, many trade associations and professional membership societies are once again revisiting their approach to member meetings and, in doing so, will need to consider the legality of holding them remotely.