“Trust-Based Philanthropy” and the Foundation Board

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of Taxation of Exempts, a Thomson Reuters journal. It has been re-published here with permission.

While the tenets of taking a trust-based approach may appeal to a funder in theory, there is always the question of practice, especially when it comes to the legal implications of unrestricted grants, improving access to funding, and minimizing paperwork for nonprofit partners. This article by Alana Petraske, a lawyer and advisor to philanthropies and nonprofits, disentangles many of the long-held connections between restrictive funding practices and legal obligations, with a particular examination of:

• Grantee due diligence,

• Unrestricted funding, and

• Reporting

Petaske underscores the importance of funders absorbing the burden of documentation for legal purposes, where individualized conversations with grantees take the place of one-size-fits-all funding applications and reports.