Holly Schadler concentrates her practice on representing tax-exempt organizations, including private foundations, public charities, 501(c)(4) organizations and PACs, in connection with tax; federal, state and local campaign finance; governmental ethics; lobbying and corporate matters as well as advising on the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Her clients include many of the nation’s largest advocacy and grantmaking organizations. She defends clients facing audits, examinations and complaints by the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Election Commission and other government bodies. Holly successfully litigated the Sierra Club’s landmark case through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding treatment of royalty income from mailing lists and affinity credit cards and unrelated business income tax.
While some groups seek her counsel after finding themselves the target of an investigation, many organizations rely on Holly’s day-to-day advice as their outside general counsel. Her prior experience working for tax-exempt organizations as a CEO, political director and lobbyist has proven particularly useful in representing organizations in every aspect of their work. For complex organizations with affiliated 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4) and political organizations, she provides the guidance and training necessary for legal compliance. Her legal guide, The Connection, (published by the Alliance for Justice), now in its fourth edition, addresses the complexities of managing networks of tax-exempt and political groups.
Holly speaks frequently on nonprofit issues, and has written numerous articles on tax-exempt organization topics.