Legal Expenses Are Mounting For Charities - TheNonProfitTimes

Legal Expenses Are Mounting For Charities - TheNonProfitTimes: The biggest drivers of legal expenses are usually employment issues, according to Cynthia Rowland of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass in San Francisco, Calif. Active charities with a lot of employees might typically be faced with higher legal expenses, she said. “Sometimes it’s not a lot if you have employment practices insurance, or you’ve got insurance for those unfortunate events,” said Rowland, but it can be the biggest area, even bigger than contract disputes.

A lot of organizations get pro bono legal help so it might appear that they don’t have legal expenses, Rowland said, particularly smaller, mid-sized community organizations. The really large national and international nonprofits usually don’t get pro bono legal help, she said, but most smaller, community-based organizations get free advice whenever they can, from friends of the organization who are lawyers, or board members. That also might be a strategy in board member recruitment.