Associate General Counsel, Nonprofit Compliance

Tides is a nonprofit and philanthropic organization committed to advancing social justice. We work across the social sector to shift power to communities of color and other groups historically denied power. Centering equity and justice in everything we do, we collaborate in deep partnership with movement leaders, nonprofits, donors, foundations, and corporations to amplify the impact of their work by providing services like fiscal sponsorship, donor advised funds, grant making, and a variety of innovative solutions.

About the Role

The Associate General Counsel (AGC), Nonprofit Compliance advances Tides' most fundamental legal and regulatory work across its core activities — grantmaking, fiscal sponsorship, and advocacy — translating nonprofit legal and regulatory frameworks into robust, well-calibrated compliance and risk mitigation systems and practices. Reporting to the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, the AGC serves as an expert and internal resource on nonprofit 501(c)(3) and corporate legal and regulatory requirements, supplementing and deepening the Legal, Risk & Compliance (LRC) Team’s existing expertise. The AGC oversees and leads the legal compliance team and program, ensuring policies and systems for 501(c)(3) and general corporate compliance are rigorous, calibrated for effectiveness and efficiency, and operationally sound. As a people leader, the AGC supervises a team that includes the Compliance Manager, the Senior Compliance Associate, and the Sr. Paralegal & Operations Analyst, and is a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Responsibilities

Legal Compliance Program

• Oversees, maintains, and advances organizational compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including those specifically applicable to 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, ensuring robust, effective, efficient, and well-calibrated policies and systems covering relevant nonprofit and corporate legal compliance matters.
• Leads Tides Legal Compliance and directs the Internal Assessment Program, including setting annual internal audit priorities, planning, and execution.
• Oversees federal and state corporate registration and reporting obligations including those involving charitable fundraising, lobbying, gifts to public officials, campaign finance rules, and others as relevant.
• Leads the development and maintenance of legal policies and practices for managing key risks associated with operations, businesses, and programs, such as OFAC and anti-corruption and bribery processes and other payment and KYC functions.
• Oversees Tides’ insurance program including renewals, claims coverage and disputes, and exploring alternative and complementary risk mitigation strategies.
• Oversees the development of training and capacity-building resources to strengthen compliance literacy across Tides and its fiscally sponsored projects.
• Drives adoption of technology solutions including automation tools.
• Sets short-term priorities and long-term compliance strategy for identifying and mitigating compliance risks.

Nonprofit Legal Expertise

• Serves as an expert and internal resource on nonprofit 501(c)(3) and corporate legal and regulatory requirements, working closely with other in-house legal team members responsible for other legal areas including philanthropy and fiscal sponsorship.
• Provides exempt organizational tax advice, such as assisting with charitability determinations, expenditure responsibility reviews, and solving complicated issues involving partisan and advocacy-related activities.
• Responds to federal, state, and local inquiries and investigations, such as inquiries from the IRS and other agencies and legislative bodies.
• Advises on compliance with lobbying reporting and disclosure requirements, including the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and state lobbying, ethics, and gift laws as well as ballot measure and election-related laws.
• Drafts and advises on contracts, such as negotiating vendor agreements relating to compliance-focused systems, as well as drafting and reviewing legal policies and procedures.
• Counsels leadership and other Tides’ teams on novel and complex legal compliance questions arising from new program models, partnerships, and advocacy strategies.
• Monitors legislative, regulatory, and enforcement developments affecting the nonprofit sector and translates them into actionable organizational guidance.

People Leadership

• Leads, develops, and supervises the legal compliance team, including hiring, performance management, coaching, and professional development.
• Sets team priorities, allocates resources, and builds team skills aligned to departmental goals and organizational strategy.
• Manages functional and team efficiency, effectiveness, and alignment.

Requirements

• Strong alignment with Tides' values, mission, and impact goal. The AGC must embody Tides' JEDI values and demonstrate the organization's core values: future focus, accountability, transparency, respect, and collaboration in all aspects of their work.
• Deep expertise in laws and regulations governing 501(c)(3) public charities, and an understanding of relationships among affiliated tax-exempt organizations such as 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits.
• Authoritative command of federal and state lobbying, political activity, and campaign finance rules as applied to (c)(3) organizations, including ballot measure activity and issue advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Experience translating complex legal requirements into well-calibrated, effective, and efficient policies, practices, and systems, and building robust compliance systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop teams, including people leaders, and to manage a function's outcomes and alignment.
• Effective and creative problem-solving skills that result in solution-oriented, business-forward, actionable advice and guidance. Ability to distinguish material risk from theoretical risk and advise accordingly.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to counsel executives, senior leaders, and non-lawyers on complex topics.
• Exercises excellent judgment in handling confidential and sensitive information.
• Proficiency with Salesforce and MS Office suite of products a plus.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor and active California law license or registered in-house counsel required.
• Practicing attorney with 8 years of experience advising nonprofit tax-exempt organizations, at least 3 of which includes supervising or leading compliance teams and full-time staff.
• Experienced advising nonprofits on federal and state tax laws and regulations including charitability; inurement and private benefit; political, advocacy, and partisan activities; state and federal lobbying limits and related lobbying reporting, disclosures, and registrations.
• Adept at advising clients on legally complex and high-profile activities, such as compliance with federal and state laws regarding voter registration and ballot measures.
• Proficient advising on general corporate legal compliance matters such as conflicts of interest, OFAC, anti-bribery, and other payment-related regulations, and Foreign Agent Registration Act obligations.
• Hands-on experience designing, maintaining, and/or overseeing compliance programs and systems for nonprofit organizations.
• Experience with fiscal sponsorship, grantmaking, and multi-entity nonprofit structures is strongly preferred.

Pay

• National GeoTier (Most of the United States): Starting Salary $159,200 – $199,000
• Moderate GeoTier (Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas): Starting Salary $173,600 – $217,000
• High GeoTier (New York City and San Francisco metro areas): Starting Salary $191,000 – $238,800

Tides is committed to providing a competitive compensation package. We value pay equity and account for factors including location within the United States, skills, and relevant experience.