Non-Profits Law 101: Governance, Board Functions, Compliance, and Employment Issues within Charities (2025 Edition)

Anita Pelletier | Nixon Peabody LLP

Anita Pelletier is Counsel in Nixon Peabody’s nonprofit practice group. She advises nonprofit organizations in matters relating to legal requirements and best practices in connection with governance and operational matters. She focuses her practice on assisting nonprofit clients to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible.

With the increased level of scrutiny and transparency requirements from the IRS, state charity regulators, and the public, it is more important than ever that nonprofit organizations ensure their governance and operations are legally compliant. Anita has helped organizations, ranging from the very small to the very large, update bylaws and policies to comply with legal requirements and best practices.

Both the IRS and many state charity regulators are using analytics to identify areas of potential noncompliance to start audits and investigations of nonprofit organizations. Many of these are targeted to specific areas, and it is important to have a plan in place to identify what the regulator is looking for and the best way to respond. Anita has worked with many organizations to guide them through these audits and investigations. Most recently, she assisted a nonprofit to respond to an IRS inquiry questioning whether the organization’s activities were charitable and an organization to respond to noncompliance allegations by a state charity regulator in connection with the receipt of a charitable bequest.

The current climate for nonprofits is unprecedented. Efficient and effective operations are more important than ever. Many nonprofits are working to leverage current assets and seek strategic alliances to ensure continued operations to assist the most vulnerable in society. Anita has worked with many nonprofits to successfully sell assets and navigate mergers and dissolutions, including working through state charity-approval processes, which have become subject to increased scrutiny. Most recently, her work in this area included assisting nonprofit housing organizations to sell or refinance housing projects and advising on the merger and sale of assets by health care and nursing home nonprofit organizations.

Anita has assisted numerous charities to navigate the various rules regarding charitable solicitations in a market that necessitates the use of social media and electronic communications. She has also represented businesses using promotions to develop brand recognition and sales. Last year, Anita’s team helped a business development best practices for operating national sweepstakes and contests.

Michael J. Lingle | Nixon Peabody LLP

Michael Lingle is a seasoned litigator with 20 years of employment litigation experience. As a member of the Labor & Employment practice group, he handles a broad range of employment law cases, including wage-and-hour class and collective actions for clients.

He represents clients in all types and through all phases of employment litigation, including wage-and-hour class and collective actions, individual discrimination matters, retirement plan issues, employment contracts, and whistleblower actions. Having spent a number of years representing individuals, he brings a unique perspective to the table on factors that could motivate employees to bring a lawsuit. He strives to use that perspective to head off issues before they result in litigation.

Additionally, he counsels and litigates on a wide variety of other employment matters, including discrimination, sexual harassment, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and breach-of-contract claims.

With the recent prevalence of remote work, the time is ripe for employers to revisit and refine their policies related to employees that work remotely, including recoding and monitoring working hours and productivity. The resurgence of union organizing activity also presents employers with an opportunity to reflect on their own employee relations and whether there are affirmative steps they want to take to improve or build on those relations.

Christopher J. Stevens | | Nixon Peabody LLP

Chris Stevens handles employment litigation and provides employment related advice and counsel across a wide variety of industries.

He represents employers confronted with people, payroll, and other problems that arise in the context of the employment relationship. His practice focuses on litigation, though he also provides employment-related advice and counsel to clients across a wide spectrum of industries.

He represents employers in all phases of litigation. He regularly handles cases filed in both state and federal court. He also defends clients against employment-related claims before various administrative agencies including the EEOC, the NLRB, the New York State Division of Human Rights, and the Department of Labor. He has experience litigating wage-hour class actions seeking unpaid overtime, collective actions brought under the FLSA, and single plaintiff lawsuits alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

He views cases that clients entrust him to handle as problems to solve and prides himself on developing practical solutions to them in an efficient way.

He also provides strategic advice and counseling on a variety of employment-related legal issues including handbook/policy development, terminations, performance management, overtime eligibility, reasonable accommodations, and leave requests. His proactive advising includes providing trainings on various topics including harassment, wage-hour compliance, and more.

Prior to joining Nixon Peabody, he served as in-house employment counsel at Goldman Sachs. His in-house experience enables him to understand and appreciate how clients are looking at a problem and how outside counsel can add value during the collaborative process of working with a client to develop solutions that work for their unique business.

Session I – Understanding Labor and Employment Law in Non-Profits | 1:00pm – 2:40pm

• Basics of Wage and Hour Responsibilities
• Exemption Classifications
  • Administrative
  • Professional
  • Executive
  • State-Specific Issues
• Working with Independent Contractors
• Anti-Harassment Policies and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
• Recent Developments / Agency Guidance

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

• Managing Remote Workforce Challenges
• The Importance of Employee Handbooks
  • Compliance with State Laws and NLRB Guidelines
• Pre-Employment Screening
  • Background
  • Credit
  • Drug Testing

Session II – Effective Governance for 501(c)(3) Organizations | 2:40pm – 4:20pm

• Organizational Governance
  • Responsibilities and Functions of the Board
  • Directors’ Fiduciary Obligations
  • Managing Conflicts of Interest
• IRC Section 4958: Intermediate Sanctions

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

• Establishing a Rebuttable Presumption of Reasonableness
  • The Importance of Compliance
  • Addressing Conflicts of Interest, Compensation Practices, and Expense Reimbursements
• Core Responsibilities of a Nonprofit Board
• • Distinguishing Governance from Operational Management
  • IRS Recommendations for Effective Governance Practices