Category Archives: Nonprofit legal history

The Dirtbag Billionaire and the Purpose Trust
Current Events and Philanthropy / New Works in the Field / Nonprofit legal history / Philanthropy in the News

The Dirtbag Billionaire and the Purpose Trust

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Editors’ Note: Dana Brakman Reiser reviews David Gelles’s Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away (Simon & Schuster, 2025). In debates and conversations about corporate social responsibility and social enterprise, few players enjoy the reverence accorded to Patagonia and its founder, Yvon Chouinard. Journalist David Gelles’ new … Continue reading →

Union Exemption: Connecting Labor and Nonprofit History
New Works in the Field / Nonprofit legal history / Nonprofits and Historical Research

Union Exemption: Connecting Labor and Nonprofit History

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Editors’ Note: John Miles Branch discusses his article on the history of debates regarding the union exemption for nonprofits, recently published in Modern American History. “They want to change the world. They would also like a raise,” announced a New York Times headline in April 2023. Unions organizing nonprofit workers, like the Office and Professional … Continue reading →

Assessing the political purpose doctrine and the perennial problem of charities and politics
New Works in the Field / Nonprofit legal history

Assessing the political purpose doctrine and the perennial problem of charities and politics

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Editors’ Note: Jane Calderwood Norton and Matthew Harding offer an assessment of the “political purpose doctrine,” which excludes organizations whose main purpose is political from charitable status, and examine how jurisdictions across the common law world have responded to it, based on their recent article in Legal Studies, “Charities and Politics: Where Did We Go … Continue reading →

Revisiting Henry Hansmann: Higher Ed Endowments, Financial Buffers, and Three Threats to Institutional Autonomy
Current Events and Philanthropy / Nonprofit legal history / Philanthropy and Education

Revisiting Henry Hansmann: Higher Ed Endowments, Financial Buffers, and Three Threats to Institutional Autonomy

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Editors’ Note: Allison Tait revisits Henry Hansmann’s 1990 law review article, Why Do Universities Have Endowments?, at a moment when university endowments face unprecedented threats, elevating Hansmann’s question about their fundamental purpose. Endowments, currently under attack and facing proposals that increase the tax on them in some higher education institutions from 1.4% to 21%, have … Continue reading →

“A Very Complicated Entity”: Lessons from the DOGE-United States Institute of Peace Showdown
Nonprofit legal history

“A Very Complicated Entity”: Lessons from the DOGE-United States Institute of Peace Showdown

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Editors’ Note: Ellen Aprill explains why the hybrid nature of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), both a government and nonprofit entity, was at the heart of the standoff between Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and USIP officials earlier this week. The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is the latest target of President … Continue reading →

Legal Personhood and the Social Responsibility of Business: A Review of Williams’ Taming the Octopus
New Works in the Field / Nonprofit legal history

Legal Personhood and the Social Responsibility of Business: A Review of Williams’ Taming the Octopus

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Editors’ Note: Jared Berkowitz reviews Kyle Edward Williams’ Taming the Octopus: The Long Battle for the Soul of the Corporation (Norton, 2024). Few issues unify Americans like the problem of corporate power. Those on the right rally against the “ideological agenda” of “woke” capital—corporations led by social justice crusaders masquerading as CEOs. Others, on the … Continue reading →

The Stakes of Americans For Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta
Current Events and Philanthropy / Nonprofit legal history

The Stakes of Americans For Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta

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Editors’ Note: Legal scholars Sarah C. Haan and Faith Stevelman assess the significance and consequences of the recent Supreme Court ruling on nonprofit disclosure, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta. On July 1st, in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (AFPF), a splintered Supreme Court majority invalidated California’s right, as a perquisite to in-state fundraising, … Continue reading →

The Limits of the Bob Jones decision: why we shouldn’t rely on the IRS to police uncivil civil society
Nonprofit legal history / Uncivil Civil Society

The Limits of the Bob Jones decision: why we shouldn’t rely on the IRS to police uncivil civil society

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Editors’ Note: Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer continues HistPhil‘s forum on ‘Uncivil Civil Society,’ highlighting the challenges in turning to the contrary-to-fundamental-public-policy doctrine laid out in the 1983 Bob Jones University Supreme Court case as a means of policing uncivil civil society. In a recent article, Zachary B. Pohlman and I consider the application to churches of … Continue reading →

The Charitable Solicitation Context of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Beccerra
History of Anonymous Giving / Nonprofit legal history / Philanthropy in the News

The Charitable Solicitation Context of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Beccerra

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Editors’ note: Joseph Mead situates the pending Supreme Court case Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Beccerra within the broader history of efforts to regulate charitable solicitation. The Supreme Court will soon decide a case with potentially significant implications for regulating nonprofits, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Beccerra. In the upcoming case, two nonprofits have challenged … Continue reading →