You asked, we answered! As the philanthropic landscape continues to evolve, donors, nonprofits and advisors are looking for tax and legal insights from seasoned experts. That’s why we’re partnering with our Chief Legal Officer, Jeffrey Haskell, and Deputy Legal Officer, Jennifer Bruckman-Gorak, to bring you a new series where they will share their unique expertise. From best practices to regulatory changes to compliance, they’ll provide clarity and guidance on the topics you’re most interested in! In our first edition, you’ll learn more about our legal experts and discover the top three legal resources that have been trending this year.
And be sure to register for our upcoming webinar “Ask Us Anything: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Landscape,” on June 13th, 2025 with Jeffrey Haskell and Brad Bedingfield, Partner and Chair at Hemenway & Barnes and Chair of its Nonprofit Group.
About Our Legal Experts
Speakers, guest lecturers, authors and tax and legal experts, Jeffrey Haskell and Jennifer-Bruckman Gorak are trusted advisors in the philanthropic sector, providing counseling and thought leadership on a range of topics for philanthropists and their professional teams.
Jeffrey Haskell
Chief Legal Officer
As Chief Legal Officer at Foundation Source, Jeffrey Haskell is responsible for providing guidance on legal and tax issues to the foundations that the company serves. He works with and provides guidance to a team of attorneys, accountants, and support professionals who provide tax reporting services to clients of the company as well as support to foundations and their advisors on a range of issues including program- and mission-related investments, grants to individuals, expenditure responsibility grants, equivalency determinations, scholarship and award programs, set-asides, return preparation, and compliance with self-dealing, minimum distribution requirement, excess business holdings, jeopardizing investments, and taxable expenditure rules.
Prior to joining Foundation Source, he was an associate at the law firms of Kronish Leib Weiner & Hellman LLP and Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky, in the Tax and Trusts and Estates departments. Prior to joining Olshan Grundman, he worked at Coopers & Lybrand in the Business Tax Planning Group.
Mr. Haskell is involved in pro-bono work for public charities and has served as an adjunct lecturer at Baruch College of Accountancy, where he taught corporate tax law. Articles by Mr. Haskell have appeared in Trusts & Estates and Taxation of Exempts magazines, and in Cardozo Law Review. Additionally, he is a frequent speaker on the rules and regulations pertaining to private foundations.
He is a graduate of Yeshiva University and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was a member of the Cardozo Law Review. He received a Masters of Law in Taxation from New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the NYU Tax Law Review.
Deputy Legal Officer
As Deputy Legal Officer, Jennifer Bruckman-Gorak provides compliance guidance to clients regarding their grantmaking, programmatic, and investment activities. She also provides guidance to the company’s team of attorneys, accountants, and support professionals in their provision of compliance and tax reporting services to clients. Over the years, she has enjoyed training and mentoring the company’s junior attorneys and other members of the legal team.
Ms. Bruckman-Gorak has co-authored articles for Foundation Source that have appeared in publications such as Trust & Estates magazine, Taxation of Exempts Journal and the Estate Planning Journal, and has been a guest speaker at estate and tax planning councils.
Ms. Bruckman-Gorak is a graduate of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she was co-president of the Italian Law Students Association and, as an alumna, has participated as a speaker in the Tax Law “Discover Your Passion” Panel. She is also a summa cum laude graduate of St. John’s University, where she was a member of the Executive-in-Residence Program, an exclusive honors program of the university’s Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
What’s Popular Now?
#1: Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI) for Private Foundations
Learn more about the implications of generating excess UBTI—which is taxed at the much higher, for-profit rates—from activities, investments or assets in a foundation.
#2: Self-Dealing Rules & Penalties
Learn how you can avoid the penalties of self-dealing, which is any transaction between a private foundation and a “disqualified person” (foundation insider), with only a few exceptions.
#3: Excess Business Holdings For Private Foundations
The IRS’ excess business holdings rules limit the combined level of ownership a foundation and its disqualified persons can hold in an active business enterprise. These rules seek to prevent a private foundation from becoming distracted from carrying out its charitable mission as a result of significant ownership in an active business.
Want To Learn More From Our Tax and Legal Experts?
Jeff and Jen’s thought leadership and propriety research has been featured in recent media coverage including:
Estate Planning Journal: So You’re Splitting Up? What to Know When Dividing a Foundation
Taxation of Exempts Journal: How Private Foundations Can Avoid the Compliance Pitfalls of Fundraisers and Galas
Questions in the Meantime?
We’re here to help! Schedule a call with us or reach us at 800-839-0054. Together, let’s #begiving.
