Greetings from Chicago and the AMT/EITC Conference!

Hi all from near the campus of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, which is hosting the AMT/EITC Conference – a workshop for mid and senior level tax profs.   Some of the ideas being presented are fully baked – mine is only half baked but I am looking forward to getting some wonderful feedback.

I’m super excited for this conference becuase many of the superstars of Nonprofit Law Prof World are here, including Sam Brunson, Ben Leff, Miranda Perry Fleisher, Brian Galle, David Walker, and Phil Hackney.  So many really great discussions about to happen about the tax-exempt world!  I’m going to try to catch up with some of my fellow profs and get permission to talk about their projects in the works.  Since I have my own permission, I can tell you a bit about my work in progress, which we will discuss tomorrow.

You may have heard about the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project – you can find the project’s website here: www.trustbasedphilanthropy.org.    They describe themselves as follows:

The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is a five-year, peer-to-peer funder initiative to address the inherent power imbalances between foundations and nonprofits. At its core, trust-based philanthropy is about redistributing power—systemically, organizationally, and interpersonally—in service of a healthier and more equitable nonprofit sector. On a practical level, this includes multi-year unrestricted funding, streamlined applications and reporting, and a commitment to building relationships based on transparency, dialogue, and mutual learning.

Having worked with many private foundations over the years, the first thing that immediately came to mind as I explored the Project is “What about 4945?  and 4942??”   Typical tax lawyer, I know.   But the reality is that the private foundation excise taxes are rooted in distrust… a deep, deep Congressional distrust of private foundations, their donors, and their governing bodies.  One need only take a spin through the transcript of the Patman Hearings to know that Code Section 4945 does not come from a place of partnership and equity.   The sad fact is that distrust is baked into private foundation grant-making through the tax code.  Can we look at all of the private foundation excise taxes, but especially 4945, through the lens of trust based philanthropy and see if we can’t make some changes for the better?  That’s my goal in this project.

Coming to a law review near you… TBD!

Hopefully, more reporting from on the ground tomorrow!

Excitedly, eww