Exempt organizations are bridging society's gap between private enterprise and government regulation. Faegre Baker Daniels is supporting and strengthening that space with sound legal advice and business planning to museums, theatres, foundations, service groups, fraternities, sororities, churches and others. 

Our representation of exempt organizations is not a transaction. Our service to you and your nonprofit is a relationship. We have a long history of helping individuals, families, groups, foundations, institutions, governments and businesses accomplish their objectives — whether they are charitable, educational, social or religious. We also assist nonprofit hospitals and health care providers, community development organizations, social service agencies, affordable housing providers, public policy/advocacy groups, civic leagues, environmental groups, trade associations and others.

Our lawyers focus on preventing problems before they arise. With issues becoming more complex, you need more than just a technician to draft documents and file forms for exempt status. We counsel clients on developing strategic plans that help you manage administrative costs, setting the stage for effective board governance and preparation to face all of the challenges that will arise over time in providing for the public good.

Throughout the process, we advise and assist exempt organizations with counsel on tax, general business, trusts and estate planning, employment (including work rules, employment discrimination and employee benefits), intellectual property, operations, litigation, risk management and all other areas of the law that impact their missions. We also provide charitable giving advice and similar assistance to individual and corporate clients.

We have been a leader in legal service to the nonprofit sector in the Midwest and beyond for more than 75 years — from serving since 1937 as sole legal counsel for one of the world's largest private philanthropic foundations, to opening and providing for the ongoing legal needs of a new national art museum, to advising dozens of colleges and universities from coast to coast and abroad, to organizing and representing hundreds of small, medium and large exempt organizations of all sorts. We also were actively involved in drafting the Indiana Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1991, Indiana's current governing statute for most nonprofit corporations. 

With the economic environment and growing international needs stretching donation dollars, we counsel clients on alternative ways to support their exempt activities, including real estate, partnership and limited liability investments. We have helped clients of all sizes — through creative collaborations and mergers — to strengthen their separate philanthropic efforts.