Senior Counsel, Philanthropy

About Tides

Tides is a nonprofit and philanthropic organization committed to advancing social justice. We work across the social sector to shift power to communities of color and other groups historically denied power.

Centering equity and justice in everything we do, we collaborate in deep partnership with movement leaders, nonprofits, donors, foundations, and corporations to amplify the impact of their work by providing services like fiscal sponsorship, donor advised funds, grant making, and a variety of innovative solutions. Learn more .

The Senior Counsel, Philanthropy, is a senior individual contributor on the Legal, Risk and Compliance (LRC) team, exercising principal-level authority over charitable and exempt-organization sector law as applied across Tides' entities and activities. Operating with general executive direction, the Senior Counsel serves as an authoritative internal legal resource within an assigned practice portfolio spanning charitable philanthropic services including donor advised funds (DAFs), mission- and program-related investments, and the laws and regulations governing charitable exempt organizations — including charitability, partner due diligence and risk mitigation practices and policies, nonprofit tax, and election and advocacy activity for 501(c)(3) organizations.

The individual portfolio assigned is based on organizational need and will emphasize Tides Foundation's philanthropic, grantmaking and investment-related activities, with shared coverage of Tides Network and other separate entities as needed.

The Senior Counsel translates nonprofit legal and regulatory frameworks into robust, well-calibrated compliance and risk mitigation advice, practices and policies; leads legal projects and initiatives with cross-departmental scope; and provides technical direction to LRC staff and cross-functional partners through subject-matter leadership rather than supervision.

As a Senior Leader the Senior Counsel, Philanthropy is responsible for modeling and demonstrating Tides' core competencies of Leading Self, Leading People and Leading Results.

• Serves as an authoritative internal resource on the laws and regulations governing charitable exempt organizations within the assigned portfolio, including grantmaking practices, partner due diligence, tax-exempt and charitable compliance, and compliant investment portfolios and programs.
• Advises executive leadership and Tides staff on complex legal grantmaking (including grants from DAFs, international grantmaking, and grants to non-501(c)(3) entities) and investment questions, recommending solutions and risk mitigations and determining appropriate escalation.
• Leads legal vetting of new and existing service offerings and programs for Tides Foundation, including Tides-led initiatives, DAFs, and other philanthropic giving and investment vehicles, identifying, investigating, and resolving legal issues while supporting Tides’ mission.
• Reviews and negotiates day to day contracts, primarily those entered by Tides Foundation, complex contracts, grant agreements, and investment and fund offerings and terms & conditions; leads development and revision of Tides' legal documents, template libraries, and legal and operational policies.
• Responds to subpoenas, legal inquiries and investigations, directing work with outside counsel as needed; tracks and reports on ongoing matters and prepares privileged memoranda on significant issues.

• Provides authoritative counsel on the appropriateness of political activities for 501(c)(3) entities, including as relates to grantmaking, investments, election-related work and partisan activity, and associated communications and messaging.
• Forms organizational guidance on relevant state and federal regulation, donor disclosure, and advisory committee roles and responsibilities.
• Advises on the permissible scope of joint 501(c)(3) / 501(c)(4) activity, including agreements, grant proposals from (c)(4) entities, and grants from Tides to (c)(4) entities.
• Supports and provides guidance on Model A and Model C fiscal sponsorship requirements.
• Supports compliant messaging of election and advocacy activity in partnership with marketing and communications.

• Translates legal and regulatory frameworks into practical compliance tools, policies, and procedures; provides technical direction to LRC compliance staff in developing and…