Experience

Karen Leaffer is a nonprofit law attorney whose practice focuses on corporate, tax and charitable giving issues affecting nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations. During her more than 20-year legal career, she has also accumulated significant experience in related areas which directly impact nonprofit organizations, including complex commercial and financing transactions. Karen Leaffer serves as a resource to nonprofit organizations and to their advisors on important, complex and difficult legal issues, such as:

• Regulation of private foundations, supporting organizations and donor-advised funds
• Intermediate sanctions and self-dealing
• Joint ventures, taxable subsidiaries and other inter-organizational structures
• Scholarships, disaster relief grants and international grants
• Tax issues of health care organizations, social clubs and trade associations
• Executive compensation audits and reporting
• Tax-exempt and low-income housing tax credit financing
• Unrelated business income tax
• Corporate governance and the implications of Sarbanes-Oxley for nonprofits
• Lobbying and political campaign activity by nonprofits
• Charitable giving and corporate sponsorships
• Ongoing Congressional reforms of the charitable sector

Karen is the managing editor and a contributing author of A Guide for Colorado Nonprofit Organizations (revised edition 2012). She is a member of the Tax & Legal Advisory Committee of the Association of Small Foundations. She is also past chair of the Nonprofit Entities Subsection of the Colorado Bar Association and past chair of the Tax Section. She is a well-known speaker and has published numerous articles on legal issues of importance to nonprofit organizations and foundations. She has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® each year from 2007-2012, Non-Profit/Charities Law.

Karen established the Leaffer Law Group in 2008 after many years of practicing in Denver’s large firms. She was a partner at Holme Roberts & Owen and headed the Colorado Nonprofit Law practice at Faegre & Benson.

Professional Service

• Association of Small Foundations, Board of Legal Advisors (2007-present)
• Foundation Tax Group, Co-Chair (2006-2010)
• Colorado Bar Association – Past Chair, Nonprofit Entities Committee of Business Law Section (2002-2007) and Past Chair and Member of Executive Council, Tax Section (1992-1999)

Community Service

• University of Colorado Women’s Health Research Center, Advisory Board (present)
• Mile High United Way, Donor Relations Council (2009-2010)
• Tesoro Foundation, Board of Advisors (2004-present)
• Lutheran Medical Center Foundation, Board of Directors (2007-2009)
• The Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, Finance Committee (2006-2008)

Bar Admissions

• Colorado

Court Admissions

• U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
• U.S. Tax Court

Publications

• Helping Nonprofits Survive the IRS Backlog
  Law Week Colorado
• Co-Author of three sections in the National Scholarship Providers Association Toolkit (2011)
  1. Donor-Advised Scholarship Funds
  2. Student Information: Record Retention, Access, Security and Destruction
  3. Tax Reporting and Withholding of Scholarships by Scholarship Providers
• Managing editor and author of chapters entitled “Public Charities, Private Foundations and Private Foundation Alternatives,” “Types of Tax-Exempt Organizations”, “Unrelated Business Income and the Doctrine of Commerciality”
  A Guide for Colorado Nonprofit Organizations
• Big Changes Now. Bigger Changes Later? The New Legal Landscape for Charitable Organizations
  TRENDS
• Treasury Department Revises Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines for Charitable Organizations
  Faegre.com
• Nonprofits & Donors Begin Bracing for Sweeping Federal Reform Legislation
  Colorado Bar Association, Business Law Section Newsletter
• Nonprofits and Sarbanes-Oxley: California Becomes the First State to Adopt Mini-Sarbanes Legislation for Nonprofits
  Colorado Bar Association, Business Law Section Newsletter
• Tax-Exempt Financing for Code Section 501(c)(3) Organizations
  Colorado Lawyer
• Taxation
  Annual Survey of Colorado Law
• Garvey v. State Farm: California’s New Approach to Concurrent Causation
  Idaho Law Review

Presentations

• The Big Picture: Legal Considerations for Scholarship Providers
  National Scholarship Providers Association Download PowerPoint.
• Options for Social Enterprise: Using Nonprofit/For-profit combinations to Drive Mission
  BKD Not-for-Profit Seminar Download PowerPoint.
• Nonprofit Legal Panel Discussion
  Colorado Nonprofit Financial Managers’ Peer Group
• Donor-Advised Scholarship Funds: The Rhythm and Harmony of Donor Participation
  National Scholarship Providers Association Conference
• The Ins and Outs of UPMIFA: Investing, Spending and More
  Colorado Bar Association  Download PowerPoint.
• Scaling the Summit…Without Falling Into a Crevice: Legal Considerations for Scholarship Providers
  National Scholarship Providers Association Download PowerPoint.
• Tax & Legal Issues for Small-Staffed Foundations
  Association of Small Foundations National Conference
• Grants to Supporting Organizations After PPA
  Mountain Region of the Grants Managers Network
• Charitable Reform and Scholarship Providers: It’s More than Academic!
  National Scholarship Providers Association Annual Conference
• Critical Legal Developments for Endowment Funds
  Faegre & Benson Seminar
• Settling the Dust: What Tax-Exempt Health Care Entities Will Need to do in Response to Tax Changes in 2006
  HFMA Colorado Chapter/CBA Health Law Section Joint Conference
• Tasks of Leadership: Legal Issues
  Association of Small Foundations, Advanced Trustee Leadership Seminar
• Unrelated Business Income: Sponsorships and Beyond
  15th Annual Institute on Advising Nonprofit Organizations in Colorado
• Determining & Reporting Executive Compensation: Lessons Learned from IRS Audits
  Foundation Tax Group
• Legal and Compliance Issues for Public/Private Foundations
  The Legacy League, Spring Training 2006: The Power of Athlete Giving
• Executive Compensation: Lessons Learned from IRS Audits
  Rocky Mountain Endowment and Foundation Conference
• Charitable Reforms: Preparing for the Storm
  Rocky Mountain Endowment and Foundation Conference
• An Ounce of Prevention: Recognizing What Congress and the IRS Have in Mind for You
  HFMA Colorado Chapter, Annual Compliance Conference
• Tax & Legal Issues of Small-Staffed Foundations
  Association of Small Foundations, Annual Trustee Leadership Seminar
• Gifts of Property – Past, Present & Future
  Greater Denver Tax Council
• New Corporate Governance Standards for Nonprofit & Privately-Held Companies
  Colorado Women’s Bar Association, Annual Convention
• Gifts of Property: Abuses, Compliances & Enforcement Issues
  Colorado Bar Association, Annual Institute on Advising Nonprofit Organizations
• Sarbanes-Oxley and Its Impact on Nonprofits
  Rocky Mountain Endowment and Foundation Conference
• An Overview of Senate Finance Committee on Reforms and Best Practices in Tax-Exempt Organizations
  Rocky Mountain Endowment and Foundation Conference
• Sarbanes-Oxley and Its Impact on Nonprofits
  Boulder Valley Community Foundation, Continuing Education Seminar for Professional Advisors
• Sarbanes-Oxley and Its Impact on Foundations
  Foundation Tax Group, Quarterly Luncheon
• Nonprofits Conducting Business Through Joint Ventures and Other Business Entities
  Colorado Bar Association, Annual Institute on Advising Nonprofit Organizations
• Changes to An Organization: If, When and How the IRS Should Be Notified
  Colorado Society of CPAs, Annual Not-For-Profit Conference
• Charitable Contributions of Small Business Interests
  Accountants’ Seminar
• Legal Considerations for the Scholarship Provider (Reporting and Withholding Obligations for Scholarships to Foreign Students and Legal Considerations in Awarding Scholarships to Undocumented Aliens)
  National Scholarship Providers Association, Annual Conference
• Taking the “Excess” Out of Excess Benefit Transactions: An Overview of Intermediate Sanctions
  Accountants’ Seminar
• Creating Your Nonprofit Organization
  The Spot, Annual Workshop on Creating a Youth Center
• Political Activity: What A Foundation Can and Cannot Do in an Election Year
  Foundation Tax Group, Quarterly Luncheon
• Governance of Nonprofit Organizations: Roles, Responsibilities, Risk and Prevention
  Rocky Mountain Endowment and Foundation Conference
• Tax Exempt Bond Financing: Keeping Up-to-Date
  American Bar Association, Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law
• Legal Update (Use of LLCs by Nonprofits, Joint Ventures Involving Nonprofits, Nonprofit to For Profit Conversions and Corporate Sponsorship)
  Colorado Society of CPAs, Annual Not-For-Profit Conference
• Foundations and Scholarships
  Foundation Tax Group, Quarterly Luncheon
• Nuts and Bolts of Tax-Exempt Financing for 501(c)(3) Organizations
  Lorman Educational Services, Public Charities in Colorado Conference
• Postal Privileges: Pitfalls for the Unwary and Recent Developments
  Lorman Educational Services, Public Charities in Colorado Conference
• Fundraising Issues and Compliance
  Lorman Educational Services, Public Charities in Colorado Conference
• Colorado State Tax Exemption Issues
  Lorman Educational Services, Public Charities in Colorado Conference
• Due Diligence and Documentation
  Panelist, Bond Attorneys’ Workshop, National Association of Bond Lawyers