Legal Services
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📋Governance & compliance
Get guidance on IRS regulations, state filing requirements, and foundation bylaws so you stay compliant with confidence. -
🤝Grant agreements & contracts
Review and draft grant agreements, MOU templates, and vendor contracts with expert legal oversight. -
🏛️Board & fiduciary guidance
Understand your board’s legal responsibilities and protect your foundation from liability before issues arise. -
📝Policy review & updates
Keep your conflict of interest, investment, and grantmaking policies legally sound and up to date.
Expert Guidance
Empower Your Foundation with Expert Legal Guidance
Running a foundation means navigating complex regulations, often without a large staff or legal team. SignaturePlus closes that gap — giving you direct access to qualified legal counsel, included by default.
How Legal Membership Add-On Works:
- Submit your question to Exponent Philanthropy through our member Q&A service by calling 202-580-6560 or emailing info@exponentphilanthropy.org.
- Staff experts will field all questions. When a legal question is beyond the scope of Exponent Philanthropy’s internal resources, SignaturePLUS member questions are passed to our legal partner, who will respond directly to you within three business days, potentially sooner, based on the volume of questions.
- Our legal partner will answer questions based on their general knowledge. If your questions require additional research, you will be notified, and the additional hours needed for research will be applied to your 10-hour allotment.
Please note:
- If a question is determined to be beyond the scope of the service agreement, we will encourage you to engage with your own legal counsel.
- The service will generally be based on United States federal tax law, as interpreted by the courts and the Internal Revenue Service.
- Our legal partner will provide you with guidance on your situation, but, depending on the complexity of the issue, you may still need to discuss the issue with your own lawyer.
- Members can seek to contract directly with our legal partner separate from their membership; the legal partner’s typical fees would apply and they may not be able to represent you depending on your issue.
*See our asset based dues structure here.
Legal Partner
We contract with Arnold & Porter to provide legal services for SignaturePLUS members. Our main contact is Andras Kosaras, who represents domestic and international tax-exempt organizations on a broad range of regulatory, transactional, and operational matters. Members benefit from his and the entire Arnold & Porter team’s knowledge and expertise in the laws that govern foundations and charitable giving.
Andras advises a broad range of exempt organizations, including public charities, private foundations, medical research organizations, donor advised funds, supporting organizations, community foundations, and fiscal sponsors. Additionally, he represents individuals and corporate donors on charitable giving. Andras also works with the firm’s legislative team to monitor and provide advice on legislative and regulatory tax proposals affecting tax-exempt organizations. He regularly speaks at programs for tax-exempt organizations.
Your foundation deserves expert legal backing
Questions? Join thousands of foundation leaders who trust Exponent Philanthropy to help them operate with confidence, clarity, and legal peace of mind. Contact us below with questions about legal services & membership today.