Also known as: charities · charitable · charitable trust · nonprofit
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A nonprofit organization or trust created to advance purposes beneficial to the public, such as relief of poverty, advancement of education or religion, promotion of health, or governmental or municipal ends.
Judge Ramirez agrees to join the board of a local food bank that provides meals to low-income families. The organization plans a fundraising gala, and the judge helps coordinate logistics without soliciting donations from anyone outside permitted family members. The participation complies with judicial conduct rules allowing involvement in nonprofit charitable activities.
Attorney Lopez represents an indigent client referred by a nonprofit legal services organization. After retention, Lopez provides a modest sum for the client's rent and transportation costs. The payment is not promised in advance and is never reimbursed, satisfying the conditions for such assistance in pro bono matters involving charitable entities.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Settlor Patel transfers assets to a trustee with instructions to use the income to fund after-school programs for at-risk youth in the city. The trust qualifies as charitable because its purpose advances education and relieves community needs without private beneficiaries.
Crestview Holdings donates funds to a scientific research institute studying renewable energy. The board approves the gift as furthering public welfare, exercising the corporation's statutory power to support charitable and educational purposes.
A will leaves property to the children of the testator's siblings who reach age thirty, with any remainder to a named charity. The charitable remainder interest receives an exception from the rule against perpetuities that would otherwise invalidate the class gift.
A testator domiciled in State X leaves land located in State Y to a charity operating in State X. Courts weigh the purpose of each state's property rules and the parties' connections to determine which law governs the validity of the charitable bequest.
A charitable purpose includes relief of poverty, advancement of education or religion, promotion of health, governmental purposes, or other purposes beneficial to the community. A trust created for any of these ends receives special treatment under the Uniform Trust Code.
A judge may assist a charitable organization with planning fundraising and managing its funds. Solicitation of contributions is permitted only from the judge's family or from judges over whom the judge lacks supervisory authority.
Yes, a lawyer handling a pro bono matter through a nonprofit legal services organization may provide modest gifts for basic living expenses such as food, rent, and medicine. The gifts cannot be promised before retention or reimbursed by the client.
A corporation may make donations for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes under the Model Business Corporation Act.
…January 1994, respondents, along with three gravely ill, pseudonymous plaintiffs who have since died and Compassion in Dying, a nonprofit organization that counsels people considering physician-assisted suicide, sued in the United States District Court, seeking a declaration that Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.36.060(1) (1994) is, on…