Well known as a top Gulf Coast business center, the Sarasota-Bradenton region is likewise renowned for its vibrant cultural, artistic, charitable, and professional infrastructure. Service and philanthropy are the twin cores of our community and lie at the heart of the Williams Parker mission. Our commitment to giving back is demonstrated in our firm’s work on behalf of public charities and private foundations, as well as in our individual attorneys’ leadership and volunteer work on behalf of many nonprofit institutions.
Public charities and nonprofits
We advise a broad range of national, regional, and local 501(c)(3) public charities focused on providing access to healthcare, human services, education, professional opportunities, the arts and more. Together with Williams Parker, these entities are committed to improving the physical, mental, financial, and social wellbeing of individuals and families across our community.
Our experienced attorneys provide counsel at every step, including formation and governance of nonprofits, obtaining, and maintaining tax-exempt status, and ensuring the effective management, and financial sustainability of these important organizations. We draw on our full-service capabilities to provide sophisticated, nuanced counsel in the following areas, among others:
- Corporate governance
- Labor and employment
- Litigation and dispute resolution
- Mergers, formation, and joint ventures
- Organizational restructuring
- Intellectual property
- Real estate, zoning, and land use
- Succession planning
- Tax, including unrelated business income tax (UBIT) issues
- Health law
- Gift receipt policy
Private foundations and philanthropy
We work closely with high-net-worth families, family offices, and individuals to identify their unique community-service goals and priorities, establish and manage charitable foundations and targeted-giving programs, and explore opportunities to serve in leadership roles that create synergies between individual talents and organizational objectives.
Our estate planning, tax, and other attorneys provide a broad range of counsel, including in the following areas:
- Foundation charters and bylaws
- Beneficiary identification and selection
- Annual distributions, grants, and gifts
- Affiliated transactions
- Tax reporting and compliance
We also help individual clients identify board, leadership, and other volunteer opportunities in which they can deploy their own personal and professional experiences — and successes — in the service of nonprofit organizations.
A century-long history of service
Since our firm’s founding in 1925, we have held ourselves to a high standard of community service. Over the decades, our attorneys have served as board members and officers of leading artistic, cultural, charitable, economic development, healthcare, and professional organizations throughout the greater Sarasota region.
An incomplete list of these organizations with which our attorneys and staff are currently affiliated includes the following:
- Argus Foundation
- American Jewish Council (AJC), West Coast Florida Chapter
- Asolo Repertory Theater
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast
- Catholic Charities Foundations
- Child Protection Center
- Community Foundation of Sarasota County
- Easterseals
- Economic Development Association of Sarasota County
- Florida Humanities Council
- Florida State University College of Medicine, Sarasota Regional Campus
- Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce
- Habitat for Humanity Sarasota
- Human Society of Sarasota County
- Library Foundation for Sarasota County
- Manatee County Florida Association of Women Lawyers
- Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
- The Out-of-Door Academy
- Realtor Association of Sarasota-Manatee
- Sarasota Opera
- Sarasota Orchestra
- Sarasota County Bar Association
- Van Wezel Foundation