BRUCE R. HOPKINS is a senior partner in the law firm of Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC, practicing in the firm's Kansas City, Missouri, and Washington, D.C., offices. He specializes in the representation of private foundations and other taxexempt organizations. His practice ranges over the entirety of law matters involving exempt organizations, with emphasis on the formation of nonprofit organizations, acquisition of recognition of tax-exempt status for them, the private inurement and private benefit doctrines, the intermediate sanctions rules, legislative and political campaign activities issues, public charity and private foundation rules, unrelated business planning, use of exempt and for-profit subsidiaries, joint venture planning, tax shelter involvement, review of annual information returns, Internet communications developments, the law of charitable giving (including planned giving), and fundraising law issues. Mr. Hopkins served as Chair of the Committee on Exempt Organizations, Tax Section, American Bar Association; Chair, Section of Taxation, National Association of College and University Attorneys; and President, Planned Giving Study Group of Greater Washington, D.C. Mr. Hopkins is the series editor of Wiley's Nonprofit Law, Finance, and Management Series. In addition to co-author of Private Foundations: Tax Law and Compliance, Third Edition , he is the author of The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Ninth Edition; The Planning Guide for the Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations: Strategies and Commentaries; IRS Audits of Tax-Exempt Organizations: Policies, Practices , and Procedures; The Tax Law of Charitable Giving, Third Edition; The Law of Fundraising, Third Edition; The Tax Law of Associations; The Tax Law of Unrelated Business for Nonprofit Organizations; The Nonprofits' Guide to Internet Communications Law; The Law of Intermediate Sanctions: A Guide for Nonprofits; Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, Fifth Edition; Nonprofit Law Made Easy; Charitable Giving Law Made Easy; Private Foundation Law Made Easy; 650 Essential Nonprofit Law Questions Answered; The First Legal Answer Book for Fund-Raisers; The Second Legal Answer Book for Fund-Raisers; The Legal Answer Book for Nonprofit Organizations; The Second Legal Answer Book for Nonprofit Organizations; and The Nonprofit Law Dictionary; and is the co-author, with Jody Blazek, of The Legal Answer Book for Private Foundations; with Thomas K. Hyatt, of The Law of Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations, Third Edition; with David O. Middlebrook, of Nonprofit Law for Religious Organizations: Essential Questions & Answers; and with Douglas K. Anning, Virginia C. Gross, and Thomas J. Schenkelberg, of The New Form 990: Law, Policy and Preparation . He also writes Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel , a monthly newsletter, published by John Wiley & Sons. Mr. Hopkins received the 2007 Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award (Vanguard Lifetime Achievement Award) from the American Bar Association, Section of Business Law, Committee on Nonprofit Corporations. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America , Nonprofit Organizations/Charities Law, 2007-2008. Mr. Hopkins earned his J.D. and L.L.M. degrees at the George Washington University National Law Center and his B.A. at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and the state of Missouri. JODY BLAZEK is a partner in Blazek & Vetterling LLP, a Houston CPA firm focusing on tax and financial planning for exempt organizations and the individuals who create, fund, and work with them. BV serves over 400 nonprofit organizations providing financial reports and tax compliance and planning services. Ms. Blazek's accounting career has concentrated on nonprofit organizations for over 38 years. This focus began with KPMG (then Peat Marwick) when she studied and interpreted the Tax Reform Act of 1969 as it related to charitable organizations and the creation of private foundations. From 1972 to 1981 she gained nonprofit management experience as treasurer of the Menil Interests, where she worked with John and Dominique de Menil to plan the Menil Collection, The Rothko Chapel, and other projects of the Menil Foundation. She reentered public practice in 1981 to found the firm she now serves. She is the author of six books in the Wiley Nonprofit Series: Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy (2008); IRS Form 1023 Preparation Guide (2005); IRS Form 990 Tax Preparation Guide for Nonprofits (2004); Tax Planning and Compliance for Tax-Exempt Organizations, Fourth Edition (2004); Private Foundations: Tax Law and Compliance, Third Edition (2008); and The Legal Answer Book for Private Foundations (2002) , the latter two volumes co-authored with Bruce R. Hopkins. Ms. Blazek serves on the Panel of the Nonprofit Sector, Transparency and Financial AccountabilityWork Group. Ms. Blazek is past Chair of the Tax-Exempt Organizations Resource Panel and a member of Form 1023 and 999 Revision Task Forces for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; she serves on the national editorial board of Tax Analysts' The Exempt Organization Tax Review and the AICPA's The Tax Advisor; and is an advisor to the Volunteer Service Committee of the Houston Chapter of Certified Public Accountants. She is a founding director of Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts and a member of the board of the Anchorage Foundations, Houston Artists Fund, and the River Pierce Foundation. Ms. Blazek is a frequent speaker at nonprofit symposia, including AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference; University of Texas Law School Nonprofit Organizations Institute; Texas, New York, Arizona, and Washington State CPA Societies' Nonprofit Conferences; conference of Southwest Foundations and Association of Small Foundations; and Resource Center's Nonprofit Legal and Accounting Institute, among others. Jody Blazek received her BBA from University of Texas at Austin in 1964 and took selected taxation courses at South Texas School of Law. She and her husband, David Crossley, nurture two sons, Austin and Jay Blazek Crossley.
