LLCs, New Charitable Forms, and the Rise of Philanthrocapitalism

2017 AALS Annual Meeting

 January 3-7, 2017

San Francisco, CA

In December 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, pledged their personal fortune—then valued at $45 billion—to the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropic effort aimed at “advancing human potential and promoting equality.” But instead of organizing CZI using a traditional charitable structure, the couple organized CZI as a for-profit Delaware LLC. CZI is perhaps the most notable example, but not the only example, of Silicon Valley billionaires exploiting the LLC form to advance philanthropic efforts.  But are LLCs and other for-profit business structures compatible with philanthropy? What are the tax, governance, and other policy implications of this new tool of philanthrocapitalism? What happens when LLCs, rather than traditional charitable forms, are used for “philanthropic” purposes?

From the heart of Silicon Valley, the AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships LLCs, and Unincorporated Associations and Section on Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law will host a joint program tackling these timely issues. In addition to featuring invited speakers, we seek speakers (and papers) selected from this call.

Any full-time faculty of an AALS member or fee-paid school who has written an unpublished paper, is working on a paper, or who is interested in writing a paper in this area is invited to submit a 1- or 2-page proposal by June 1, 2016.  The Executive Committees of the Sections will review all submissions and select two papers by July 1, 2016.  If selected, a very polished draft must be submitted by November 30, 2016.  All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the Chairs of the Sections at the email addresses below:

Mohsen Manesh

Associate Professor

University of Oregon School of Law

[email protected]

Garry W. Jenkins

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Professor of Law

Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University

[email protected]

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