Elizabeth Lauren Simpson

As part of her work, Lauren helps clients to obtain and retain tax-exempt status, and advises exempt organizations in structuring complex grants and asset contributions, creating and leveraging innovative structures to increase charitable impact and facilitate compliance, and managing federal tax and state regulatory compliance relating to mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, impact investments, and other activities. She also helps for-profit entities undertaking corporate philanthropy, volunteer initiatives, and joint ventures or other affiliations with tax-exempt organizations, and assists both nonprofit and for-profit clients engaging in activities implicating state charitable solicitation laws, including cause marketing initiatives. Lauren regularly advises clients on best practices for nonprofit boards, unrelated business income tax matters, excess benefit transactions and self-dealing, excess business holdings issues, program-related and mission-related investments, lobbying and political campaign issues, and executive compensation matters.

Lauren is a frequent speaker at conferences, seminars, and workshops on exempt organization matters. Most recently, she has spoken on topics including advanced issues in charitability, with a focus on food, energy, and the environment, lobbying and political campaign activities, fundraising and commercial co-venture compliance, and donor-advised funds.