Description
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Legal Webinar: Nonprofit Mergers, Acquisitions, and Dissolutions
Originally Presented on September 10, 2025
Presented by: Don Kramer, Esq., Of Counsel, Montgomery, McCracken with Catherine H. Gillespie of Montgomery, McCracken
Moderated by: Ashley Suhler Tobin, Standards for Excellence Director, PANO
Offered in Partnership with: Nonprofit Issues
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The world has changed since our last webinar on mergers, acquisitions and dissolutions. What was optional thinking for nonprofits in 2024 has become mandatory thinking for many in 2025.
Now more than ever, considering whether and how to merge, affiliate or dissolve is critical. Many nonprofits are seeing cutbacks in federal funding, increased competition for fundraising dollars and efforts to abolish the essence of their work.
This webinar will:
- Review the options with advantages and disadvantages. We will look at mergers, affiliations, bankruptcy, and dissolution for those who can’t afford bankruptcy.
- Discuss alternative legal relationships and the “due diligence” needed to consider a new structure.
- Review the steps, including whether you need approval from the state Attorney General.
- Discuss the steps to dissolve the organization, if nothing else makes sense, while trying to keep the mission alive.
We will discuss these considerations in the context of real-life situations. We will emphasize the need for strategic thinking in advance so the options are thoughtful and not imposed on the organization.
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ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Donald W. Kramer, Esq., Nonprofit Issues & Montgomery McCracken | Donald W. Kramer serves as chair of Montgomery McCracken’s Nonprofit practice group. Don has more than 45 years of experience dealing with the concerns of nonprofit organizations, not only as a lawyer, but also as a teacher, writer, publisher, and board member. He has worked with nonprofits of all types and sizes, helping structure startup situations and restructure multiorganizational health and educational systems. He counsels on a wide range of nonprofit corporate structure and governance, private and community foundations, continuing care retirement communities, exempt organization taxation, low-income housing tax credit transactions, real estate, charitable giving, and other nonprofit issues. Don serves as the editor and publisher of Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues®, a national newsletter of “Nonprofit Law You Need to Know,” which he founded in 1989. Prior to joining Montgomery McCracken in 1972, Don served as deputy development coordinator and assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia.
Catherine H. Gillespie, Montgomery McCracken | Catherine H. Gillespie serves as Of Counsel in Montgomery McCracken’s Business Department. She focuses her practice on health care, with a particular focus on long-term care, higher education and a range of corporate and tax law issues affecting nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. Her expertise includes mergers and acquisitions of nonprofit entities, re-structuring relationships between and among organizations and creating documents to reflect the resulting structures. She counsels tax exempt organizations on the process of being sold to for profit businesses and guides the organizations through the often-complicated process. Catherine regularly obtains 501(c)(3) status for nonprofit clients and subsequently works with them to maintain that status. She regularly advises organizations on Federal and state law compliance and licensure issues. Additionally, Catherine provides legal expertise by advising clients in the following areas:
- Amendments to Bylaws and Articles to accurately reflect an organization’s internal operations;
- Dissolution of an organization;
- Health care regulatory compliance;
- HIPAA compliance advice to businesses and nonprofits as well as their contractors and subcontractors;
- Real estate tax and sales tax exemptions for 501(c)(3) organizations;
- Negotiate and create, if needed, contracts for the unique needs of charities of various missions and sizes;
- Review admission agreements for various types of health care facilities to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations;
- Provide day-to-day advice and guidance to clients.
She is certified in Health Care Compliance by the Health Care Compliance Association. She has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in social work from West Virginia University, both with a focus on gerontology.
Ashley Suhler Tobin, PANO Standards for Excellence Director | Ashley Suhler Tobin is a strategic nonprofit professional with over 16 years of experience in program development, program management and relationship management. As a Licensed Consultant for the Standards for Excellence in Pennsylvania and nationally, she brings deep expertise in nonprofit governance and management for PANO’s Standards for Excellence program. Ashley’s career includes roles such as Program Development Director at Turning Points for Children and as a consultant for a variety of nonprofits in Pennsylvania. Ashley also ran a nonprofit networking program in Philadelphia called Connecting Coffee. With a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from The George Washington University, Ashley is dedicated to fostering transparency, upholding ethical standards, and delivering high-impact results.
