U.S. Nonprofit Law Reform: The Role of Private Organizations

This article compares three recently completed or ongoing U.S. nonprofit law reform projects drafted by three different models of nonprofit institutions: the American Law Institute, the American Bar Association, and the Uniform Law Commission. These projects are not themselves law; rather, success depends on enactment by state legislatures or application by practicing attorneys, regulators, and judges. Moreover, this entrepreneurial and sometimes competitive model of law reform means that a true unified “charities law ” in statutory form is unlikely to emerge in the United States. Finally, future law reform might focus less on nonprofit organizational form and more on subsectors or activities in which certain nonprofits (and perhaps also government and businesses) operate