Bio

Cynthia Rowland is a business and tax lawyer who helps philanthropists, including private individuals as well as for-profit and non-profit organizations, who wish to make the world a better place. As a business attorney and strategist, she helps her clients achieve personal, family, business, charitable, philanthropic, and community objectives. Cynthia’s expertise in this regard is broad, and includes entity formation, business transactions and grant agreements, regulatory compliance matters, partnerships and joint ventures, and mergers and dissolutions. In short, she’s well-attuned to the legal needs of philanthropic families, all forms of nonprofit organizations, and business enterprises with a corporate social responsibility directive. She also advises trustees and directors of charitable organizations on fiduciary and tax issues, including those raised by actual and potential conflicts of interest, regulatory investigations and audits, debt financing of capital projects, including tax exempt bonds, as well as issues raised by settlement of complex litigation involving the founders and their family members, fiduciaries, and charitable organizations. Cynthia has a particular expertise in the legal and tax issues of corporate philanthropy—business enterprises using philanthropy to benefit their communities, push the boundaries of emerging science and technology not yet adequately funded by private capital, and other emerging approaches the betterment of the planet and its inhabitants. Her clients seek her advice when pursuing charitable co-ventures, fundraising, formation of corporate foundations, and other types of social benefit corporations and entities. Her approach to her practice combines depth of experience and extensive technical expertise with an openness to innovation. By integrating traditional, proven approaches with new, effective ideas, and structures, Cynthia provides wise counsel to clients who are seeking to accomplish business, philanthropic, social, and charitable objectives in a complex, ever-changing world. Cynthia is a frequent speaker on nonprofit and tax topics and co-authors three chapters in the California CEB Treatise “Advising California Nonprofit Corporations.” Her podcast, EO Radio Show, covers the broad range of legal and business issues faced by the nonprofit sector, with weekly episodes highlighting perennial issues as well as the cutting edge of new laws and regulations, new business models and new ideas for making the world more just, creative, healthy, and kind.