Dane

Focuses on the legal issues surrounding nonprofit organizations, particularly the “public benefit” entities and membership organizations that are often said to form the nation's “voluntary” or “third” sector. Specific topics include formation and dissolution, operation and governance, regulation, tax exemption and charitable contributions, “unrelated” commercial activities, the role of constitutional law, and the treatment of nonprofit organizations in tort law and antitrust law. More generally, the course considers the puzzle of why nonprofit organizations exist in the first place, their place in the social and economic order, whether the law should accord them special status, and how all these questions relate to the special role that voluntary activity and philanthropy have played in American history. Also examines important distinctions among the various types of nonprofit organizations, including religious entities, traditional charities, advocacy groups, and private membership associations.