In today’s market, buyers and sellers need to be creative when it comes to financing the purchase and sale of a business. Earn-outs offer a financing option that provides for flexibility, incentives for the new owners to do well, and incentives for the seller to see the transition go smoothly. Earn-outs can be structured in …
Overview Copyright Law protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible form including but not limited to images, videos, articles, and content on websites e.g., this blog post is also protected under copyright law (so don’t get any ideas…). Technology has made it easier to copy, share, save, sell, and replicate content. We can …
Overview Phrases are powerful branding tools. Some unforgettable branding campaigns include Nike’s “Just do it”; Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?”; or American Express’s “Don’t leave home without it.” For-profit and non-profit corporations derive commercial value from such phrases by making customers think of them when they hear the phrase. For example, if you see the phrase, …
Overview In today’s business and nonprofit world, intellectual property is one of the most valuable assets for a business. It allows a business/organization to have ownership over an idea, work, name, or symbol. This blog post will summarize the four most common types of intellectual property that you may want to consider protecting. These types …
Overview It is a simple rule that it takes a lot of documents to run an organization. Governing documents, transaction documents, property documents, tax documents, and many more. What happens when these documents start to pile up? How long should an organization hold on to these documents and what should they do with them when …
Overview For organizations exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the most important governance policy the organization can have is the conflict of interest policy. The policy is not only explicitly asked about for every organization in the Form 990 Informational Return but is also asked about in the Form …
Overview You’ve just shaken hands to buy or sell a business, now what? What are the next steps? How do you take this broad outline of terms and turn them into a binding contract? Typically, after the hand-shake deal is made, the next step is to enter into a Letter of Intent (sometimes also called …
Overview There are many ways to pay for the purchase price during the sale of a business – all cash, traditional financing with a bank, seller financing with a promissory note, or some combination of the above. When discussing the payment options with the other party you should keep in mind that you are not …
Overview Earlier this week, Governor Inslee signed into law Senate Bill 5034. Simply put, this law completely overhauls and replaces the current version of the Washington Nonprofit Corporations Act. The effort to pass this law started in 2008 with the adoption of the Model Nonprofit Corporations Act by the Washington State legislature. From there, a …
Washington State Passes New Nonprofit Corporations Act! Read More »
Overview The Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA”) is a new bankruptcy law, effective February 2020, aimed at opening new protocols to help small business successfully reorganize under federal bankruptcy. Why is this important? Prior to SBRA, struggling businesses had two options in bankruptcy, Chapter 7 and Chapter 11. In short, Chapter 7 is liquidation, and …