Resources: Legal Assistance

The Legal Aid Society’s Community Development Project (“CDP") offers free legal assistance to qualified nonprofit organizations in New York City. The CDP's nonprofit clients receive counsel on the full range of legal issues that affect them, including incorporation, tax exemption, charitable compliance, grant-making, corporate governance, real estate, intellectual property and employment. The typical nonprofit clients include social services agencies, after-school and child care programs, community development organizations, arts organizations, and groups that provide services to the immigrant and LGBT communities. The CDP collaborates extensively with community-based partners to provide workshops, counseling and legal representation. Recent workshops include: legal considerations in starting a small business; financing for nonprofit organizations and small businesses; commercial leasing for artists; and not-for-profit incorporation and tax exemption.

For more information or to request assistance, call (212) 426-3000 any business day between 9 am and 5 pm and ask to speak to the Community Development Project (CDP). 

Pro Bono Partnership offers pro bono legal services to eligible nonprofit organizations in the New York tri-state area that serve the poor and disadvantaged, primarily in the areas of health and human services, affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, and economic development. Beyond providing pro bono legal services, the Pro Bono Partnership offers workshops and materials on a variety of topics affecting nonprofit organizations and volunteer attorneys.