This area is hosted by Lawyers Alliance for New York and was developed with generous technical assistance from the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell.

Join us!

You can become a member of this practice area by clicking on Join this area. It is not necessary to take a pro bono case to join, but there are many nonprofits that would welcome and benefit from pro bono legal help as they pursue their efforts to improve the quality of life in New York's neighborhoods!

Pro bono legal assistance, in the practice of "Community Development & Nonprofit Law," is one important tool that enables nonprofit groups to work more efficiently and to maximize their impact in the communities in which they operate.

Resources in this Practice Area

***NEW: Albany Law School's Nonprofit Formation Tool, a web-based document assembly tool for easily creating a certificate of incorporation and by-laws for a non-membership-based non-profit under NY law.

This practice area offers a variety of features to support your work on behalf of nonprofit clients. The Library contains memoranda and outlines on legal topics as well as sample forms that are useful to attorneys representing nonprofits. The Roster contains a information on other members of this practice area. 

The News tab now contains:

- Updated Whistleblower Policy Model

- Updated Model Bylaws for Members

- Geoffrey Goldman and Reena Agrawal Sahni's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Francois Quintard-Morenas' Volunteer Accomplishment

- Jennifer L. Franklin, Heather Lee, and Richard Zhang's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Marc Richter's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Martha Steinman and Maria Benvenuto's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Robert Kennedy, Max Goodman, Bessie Qu, Taylor Muller, and Nam Phan's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Lawyers Alliance for New York's Coronavirus Information Page

- Legal Alert: Unincorporated Nonprofit Associations: Risks and Risk Mitigation

- Legal Alert: Compliance with Federal, State, and City COVID-19 Leave Laws

- Legal Alert: COVID-19 and Insurance Coverage Considerations for Nonprofits

- Legal Alert: Government and Private Aid Available to Nonprofits for COVID-19 Relief

- Legal Alert: Frequently Asked Questions: Providing Disaster Relief During the COVID Crisis

- Legal Alert: Paycheck Protection Program Under the Historic Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Signed into Law on March 27

- Legal Alert: COVID-19 FAQs for Employers

- Legal Alert: Coronavirus Update: Only Essential Employees May Work Onsite

- Legal Alert: Expediting Nonprofit Board Governance During the Coronavirus Emergency

- Legal Alert: Families First Coronavirus Response Act: What Nonprofit Employers Need to Know

- Legal Alert: Contract Considerations for Nonprofits During the Coronavirus Outbreak

- Legal Alert: Protecting Your Nonprofit from COVID-19

- Megan Vallerie, Elizabeth Dahill, Stephanie Grimaldi, Willard Moore, and Joshua Hager's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Stephani Hildebrandt's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Tammy Lam and Daniel Schloss's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Nathan Greene's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Jonathan Jacobs, Ramsay Randall, and Richard Stempler's Volunteer Accomplishment

- Exponentum National Day of Service

- Samantha Braunstein and Marissa Yu's Volunteer Accomplishment

-  David Lichstein and Mercedes Samavi's Volunteer Accomplishment

-  Evan Parness' Volunteer Accomplishment

-  Blaise Latella and Kathleen Chastaine's Volunteer Accomplishment

-  Greg Dolinsky's Volunteer Accomplishment

-  The new edition of Bylaws That Work.

-  The new edition of Getting Organized.

-  The new edition of Advising Nonprofits.

The Governance folder now contains:

- Sample Conflicts of Interest and Whistleblower policies related to the Nonprofit Revitalization Act.

- Updated Nonprofit Revitalization Act Compliance Checklist

- FAQs related to the Nonprofit Revitalization Act.

The Employment Law folder now contains a memo on compliance with the Executive Compensation provisions of EO 38.

The Lobbying and Political Activity folder now contains a document entitled Nonprofit Organizations and Legislative Lobbying FAQs that provides an introduction to the many ways that legislative advocacy by nonprofit organizations is regulated at the federal, state, and city level.

The Mergers and Strategic Alliances folder now contains a subfolder Collaborations with a sample linkage agreement, coordination agreement, collaboration agreement, subcontract agreement, and a due diligence checklist.

These new documents along with other valuable volunteer materials are available in our Library. We have posted an Index of Library Documents, listing all of the available sample forms, documents, and memoranda in the Library.