Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel is a monthly newsletter. Now in its 36th year of publication, the newsletter is published by John Wiley & Sons. Each issue consists of
8 pages. Learn more and subscribe here.

The newsletter focuses on current developments in the law (principally federal tax law) of interest, concern, and other applicability to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations and their professional advisors. The latter encompasses lawyers, accountants, fundraisers, management consultants, and financial advisors.

Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel's subject matter is on developments in the law pertaining to qualification of nonprofit organizations for tax-exempt status, the private inurement and private benefit doctrines, the intermediate sanctions rules, legislative and political campaign activities, unrelated business income issues, public charity and private foundation classification, annual information return filing and disclosure requirements, use of exempt and taxable subsidiaries, involvement of exempt organizations in partnerships and other joint ventures, charitable giving (including planned giving) developments, fundraising regulation, and other topics.

The newsletter discusses the latest court decisions, Department of Treasury regulations (proposed and final), IRS rulings (public and private), and legislative developments of interest to tax-exempt organizations. Where appropriate, commentary is provided.

All is not the tax law, however. Other aspects of the federal law of concern to nonprofit organizations and their advisors that are covered from time to time are developments initiated by other federal agencies such as the Federal Election Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Postal Service.

The emphasis of Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel often is on developments in the law concerning charitable, educational, scientific, and religious organizations. Frequently, however, recent court opinions, rulings, and the like pertaining to other categories of exempt organizations are discussed. These other entities include trade, business, and professional associations, social welfare organizations, social clubs, political organizations, veterans' groups, and various types of governmental and quasi-governmental organizations.

A typical issue of the newsletter contains five or six articles, followed by a summary of other developments. There is a Quote of the Month. A listing of the articles and a reference to the case or ruling discussed in each issue of the newsletter is available on this site.

Each article in Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel on a tax-exempt organizations topic ends with a citation to the appropriate chapter(s) or subchapter(s) in Hopkins, The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Tenth Edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2011; annually supplemented). This is done to provide ready access to background and additional information concerning these articles.

Likewise, each article in the newsletter on a charitable giving topic ends with a citation to the appropriate chapter(s) or subchapter(s) in Hopkins, The Tax Law of Charitable Giving, Fourth Edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2010; annually supplemented).

Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel is a stand-alone publication. At the same time, for those who have the books, it also serves as a monthly update as to developments in those fields of the law.

Hopkins has been practicing law, exclusively in the tax-exempt organizations field, for 50 years. His practice is in its Kansas City, Missouri. He writes each issue of the newsletter from the perspective of endeavoring to provide each month what he perceives are the most meaningful developments in the law for exempt organizations and their advisors.

Comments and suggestions as to the content of the newsletter are welcome.