Clients come to me because I’m a great listener and I care about their goals as if they were my own. Drawing on my experience as a corporate finance lawyer at a large global law firm before pivoting to nonprofit law, I now apply these skills and standards of excellence to help nonprofits make a positive impact in their communities and around the world. I’m particularly interested in innovative philanthropy and collaboration among the private, public and nonprofit sectors.
Jeremy Steckel represents public charities and private foundations (501c3s), social welfare organizations (501c4s), professional associations and business leagues (501c6s), and other tax-exempt organizations on corporate, compliance, and governance matters. His public charity clients provide social services, and conduct or support scientific, educational and medical research, sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, international development and relief efforts, safe and affordable housing, public heath, arts and culture, and religious activities; his private grantmaking foundation clients, which include family and corporate foundations, fund similar activities by making grants, program-related and impact investments in the U.S. and abroad; and his operating foundation clients include artist-established foundations educating the public about the work of a particular artist or school of artists.
For clients looking to establish new nonprofits, Jeremy guides them through the incorporation and startup process, providing them with state-of-the-art bylaws, conflict of interest and other key policies, and obtains recognition from the IRS of federal 501(c) tax-exempt status, all with a focus on setting clients up for success right from the start. Jeremy also advises existing nonprofits on corporate governance, board fiduciary duties, internal investigations, excess benefit transactions, self-dealing, charitable solicitation, charitable giving, fiscal sponsorship, program-related investments, impact investing and other innovative philanthropy, joint ventures, relationships with other not-for-profit and for-profit entities, commercial contracts, structural changes, mergers, asset sales, and dissolutions.
Prior to joining Carter Ledyard, Jeremy was a Senior Fellow and Supervising Attorney for a law clinic at NYU School of Law, where he supervised teams of law students advising nonprofits and for-profit social enterprises.
Earlier in his career, Jeremy was a Senior Associate in the Securities practice at Milbank LLP, where he represented investment banks, governments, and corporations in domestic and international securities transactions. He regularly worked on bond offerings issued or guaranteed by governmental entities, including advising Export Development Canada on its issuance of one of the first SEC-registered “green bonds” to finance environmental remediation initiatives, and advising airlines and underwriters on the issuance of U.S. government guaranteed bonds to finance the purchase of Boeing aircraft. Jeremy’s nonprofit clients appreciate his deep knowledge of finance, investment, and contract principles as they address their own financial needs and build organizational capabilities to better fulfill their missions.