The foundation world is a complex field requiring specialized legal knowledge. Foundation Legal Help Desk connects you to attorneys with expertise in foundation operations at an affordable rate.
Purchase or renew Subscription
Service Levels
Entry
$1,000
5 inquiries/year
Basic
$1,700
10 inquiries/year
Premium
$2,500
Unlimited inquiries/year
How It Works
Foundation Legal Help Desk operates through a secure web portal, allowing you to send questions to our on-call attorneys. An attorney specialized in the topic area responds to you directly with a written answer or makes arrangements for a phone conversation.
See details about this service:
- This service is designed to provide brief answers to questions, providing up to a maximum of one hour on any one question. The attorney will be able to advise the foundation if they need to engage counsel to assist them with a complex legal issue or gift.
- The attorney will be able to advise you if the foundation needs to engage counsel to further assist with a complex legal issue or gift.
- The attorney can review documents but will not prepare any documents.
- This service is for legal questions that relate to the operation of a foundation, not legal issues facing a foundation’s grantees.
- Foundation Legal Help Desk reserves the right to decline a request that is clearly beyond the scope of a one-hour engagement.
- Our goal is to respond within 24 hours (Monday-Friday during the business week); attorneys are not available on an immediate basis.
Meet Our Attorney
Attorneys providing this service have specialized knowledge in grantmaking, scholarships, fund management, planned giving, nonprofit law, the Pension Protection Act, UPMIFA, and other laws that specifically affect the operations of a foundation.
Phil Purcell, J.D.
Phil Purcell currently serves as Territory Director of Planned Giving for the Central Territory of The Salvation Army. In this role, he is the directional leader of thirty planned giving staff who close $80 million in planned gifts annually.
Phil is counsel for the national Foundation Legal Help Desk, as well as Indiana Philanthropy Alliance, Philanthropy Southeast, and Philanthropy Ohio. He has served as independent counsel for over one hundred community foundations throughout the U.S. He served as Director of Gift Planning for the Central Indiana Community Foundation, consultant for Kansas Association of Community Foundations, consultant for the Florida Philanthropic Network, and a legal and peer reviewer for the Community Foundations National Standards Board, Council of Foundations.
Phil teaches courses on law and philanthropy, nonprofit organization law and planned giving as adjunct faculty for the Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Bloomington, IN) and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Fundraising School (Indianapolis, IN). He is a senior consultant for the Heaton Smith Group, a national legacy planning consulting firm. Phil serves as editor for Planned Giving Today, a national monthly publication, as well as a content editor for Giving USA.
Phil is an attorney and member of the Indiana and American Bar Association. He serves as Vice Chair of the Charitable Giving and Organizations Committee of the Real Property, Trust, and Estate section of the American Bar Association. He is president of the American Council on Gift Annuities board of directors, and formerly served on the boards of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (secretary), Indiana Charitable Gift Planners (president), AFP – Indiana (president), and was AFP-Indiana Fundraiser of the Year.
Phil received his B.A. degree from Wabash College (magna cum laude) and his J.D. and M.P.A. degrees (with honors) from Indiana University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Alpha Alpha as well as a Truman Scholar.
Interested?
Contact our Help Desk Administrator
