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William J. Culbertson

William J. Culbertson Counsel – Not admitted in Virginia, admitted in Ohio

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Charlottesville T +1 434 977 2511 F fax +1 434 980 2252
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Bill serves as a trusted advisor to his clients, focusing on fulfilling goals and objectives through strategic planning, practical problem solving and risk mitigation. With extensive experience advising individuals, nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, corporations, and other entities, Bill devotes much of his practice to counseling clients with diverse legal needs.

Throughout his career, Bill has delivered various legal services to a wide array of tax-exempt entities, including public charities, family, corporate and other private foundations, supporting organizations, social welfare organizations, community foundations, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, trade associations and religious organizations. He advises individuals and organizations on charitable contributions, and complex planned giving strategies and sophisticated charitable contributions, including charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities and pooled income funds. He also counsels clients on various governance, unrelated trade or business income issues, endowment and investment matters, tax compliance issues, the rules applicable to private foundations, public charities, and other tax-exempt organizations, joint ventures, policies and procedures, risk assessments and business-related matters for organizations across industries.

Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Bill served as chief legal officer for a national environmental 501(c)(3) organization, where he successfully led the Legal Team and provided pragmatic legal counsel on organizational, operational, and regulatory issues. He played a key role in the organization’s growth from a startup to over $55 million in annual revenue. Under his guidance, the Legal Team developed policies and procedures for identifying and mitigating legal risks, reviewing and negotiating grants, contracts, and joint ventures, and ensuring compliance with state charitable solicitation laws. Additionally, Bill developed and implemented critical policies and procedures, including those related to conflicts of interest, whistleblower protection, document retention and destruction and expense reimbursement.

With a deep understanding of the legal and operational needs of tax-exempt organizations and individuals making planned gifts and other charitable contributions, Bill is committed to equipping nonprofit leaders with the tools and insights needed to fulfill their missions effectively and sustainably, while helping individuals achieve their philanthropic goals.

“My practice is centered on collaborating closely with clients to achieve their goals, while leveraging a comprehensive understanding of relevant laws and utilizing a practical, solutions-oriented approach to address challenges.”

Experience

  • Served as Chief Legal Officer for a national environmental 501(c)(3) organization and as Planned Giving Officer for a major hospital system.
  • Established numerous family and corporate private foundations, providing guidance on self-dealing, minimum distribution, excess business holding, jeopardy investment, and taxable expenditure rules.
  • Facilitated planned gifts to meet unique and complex objectives, including use of charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and charitable gift annuities, and all related gift documents.
  • Advised on unrelated business income tax issues, including debt-financed income, the exceptions and modifications to unrelated business income, and the use of for-profit subsidiaries, benefit corporations, single-member limited liability companies and “blocker” entities to mitigate unrelated business income tax and organizational risk.
  • Conducted legal, tax, endowment, and governance compliance audits for health systems, religious organizations, foundations, and other tax-exempt organizations.
  • Advised on excess benefit transactions related to compensation at public charities and transactions involving public charity “insiders.”
  • Successfully obtained many Internal Revenue Service rulings on tax classification changes, including conversions to private foundations, publicly supported organizations, and Type I, II, or III supporting organizations.