Social Enterprise by Non-Profits and Hybrid Organizations (Portfolio 489)

Document Type

Other

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

Bloomberg Tax Portfolio, Social Enterprise by Non-Profits and Hybrid Organizations, No. 489, analyzes the unique federal income tax and state law issues affecting the relationships between social entrepreneurship and tax-exempt organizations, whether carried on directly by the tax-exempt organization or encouraged by investments in or grants to socially- or charitably-minded for-profit businesses. The Portfolio further examines the emergence of hybrid organizations designed to apply commercial strategies to maximize a social or charitable purpose.

This Portfolio begins with a look at traditional social entrepreneurship by tax-exempt organizations. It considers the overall tests for tax-exemption and then focuses on specific operational activities, including job training, microfinance, low-income housing, technical assistance, the sale of products to the poor, and publishing, to evaluate when those activities can be conducted within a tax-exempt organization. The Portfolio reviews other key issues that affect tax-exempt social enterprises, including the unrelated business income tax rules, the joint venture rules, and the use of for-profit subsidiaries of exempt organizations.

This Portfolio then examines the federal income tax and state law issues affecting investments in, or grants to, for-profit entities by tax-exempt organizations. Types of investments discussed include socially responsible investments (SRIs), mission-related investments (MRIs), and program related investments (PRIs). This Portfolio also examines expenditure responsibility grants to for-profit entities.

Finally, this Portfolio looks at the emergence of hybrid organizations in the United States, which are single for-profit legal entities that simultaneously serve a traditional business purpose and a social or charitable purpose. Specifically, within the past five years, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes authorizing distinct types of legal entities that cater to social enterprise. The two primary types of such hybrid organizations are the benefit corporation and the low-profit limited liability company (“L3C”). Both types of such hybrid organizations, as well as certain other variants, are discussed in detail in the final portion of this Portfolio.

Recommended Citation

Cassady Brewer, Social Enterprise by Non-Profits and Hybrid Organizations (Portfolio 489), BNA Bloomberg T.M. #489 (2nd ed. 2019) (with Elizabeth Minnigh and Robert Wexler).

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