Martha focuses her practice on not-for-profit, administrative, health, state tax, and federal and state tax exemption law and lobbying.
Significant areas of practice include creation, reorganization, mergers and consolidations, zoning, land use and ongoing advice to not-for-profit corporations, state and federal tax and tax exemption for not for profit organizations, and legal issues related to charitable solicitation and fundraising. She also has experience as borrower’s counsel for not-for-profit entities doing tax exempt financing.
Martha has been involved over many years with legislative initiatives affecting the regulation, operation and taxation of not-for-profit entities, including changes to the charitable solicitation laws and the model nonprofit act, and advocacy on behalf of child care providers, Ohio YMCA’s, residential camps and other human service providers
Martha serves as general counsel for the Ohio Water Development Authority, LeadingAge Ohio and numerous not-for-profit tax exempt organizations including several trade associations.
Representative Experience
- Successfully lobbied for a change on behalf of the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA), in the Ohio Revised Code, that increased the OWDA’s Competitive Bidding threshold from $25,000 to $50,000.
- Lobbied successfully to preserve the Fair Labor Standards Act exceptions in the Ohio minimum wage implementation legislation.
- Represented American Camp Association in negotiations over residential camp health rules.
- 20 years lobbying for the Ohio Association of YMCA’s.
- Successfully represented five charitable beneficiaries in terminating a Trust because the costs to keep the Trust outweighed the income it produced. The Court ruled in favor of the five charitable beneficiaries and granted our clients the entire amount.
- Successfully preserved property tax exemption for large public nature preserve.
