Partner

Karen Donnelly

Partner

Karen Donnelly

  • J.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2010
  • B.A., English Literature, University of Kansas, 2002
  • B.S., Journalism, University of Kansas, 2002
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
  • Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court,
  • District of Colorado
  • District of Kansas
  • District of Western Missouri
  • Supreme Court of Missouri
  • Supreme Court of Kansas
  • First Amendment
  • Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt Organizations
  • Administrative Law
  • Regulatory & Compliance
  • Corporate Law
  • Government Investigations
  • Appellate Practice & Constitutional Law
  • Town Hall for Donor Privacy (2021), The Nonprofit Alliance.
  • Nonprofit Fundraising, Registration, and Avoiding Regulatory Pitfalls (2020), Not-for-Profit and Governmental Seminar, BKD, University of Kansas Edwards Campus.
  • Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society, KCPA Law Day 2019, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Unrelated Business Income Taxation (2018), National Business Institute, Overland Park, Kansas.
  • Donor Privacy under Attack by California Attorney General, Best Lawyers, (February 2017).
  • Intellectual Property and the Social Venture/Non-Profit: registration, protection, and enforcement of trademarks, and how to protect IP in licensing, corporate sponsorships, fundraising agreements, and grant writing agreements (2016), University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law, Social Entrepreneurship.
  • Financing the Social Venture: Crowdfunding, registration, and regulatory issues (2015), University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law, Social Entrepreneurship.
  • Good Governance: Has the IRS Usurped the Business Judgment of Tax Exempt Organizations in the Name of Transparency and Accountability?, 79 UMKC L. Rev. 163 (Fall 2010).

Karen’s practice focuses on First Amendment litigation and regulatory law in the areas of charitable, political and commercial speech. She represents nonprofit and commercial entities within the fundraising, advertising and marketing communities, including state attorney general investigations, Federal Trade Commission investigations, IRS audits, multi-state investigations, civil rights litigation and appellate practice in federal and state courts.

In 2021, Karen coordinated and filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta on behalf of The Nonprofit Alliance (TNPA), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and 123 nonprofit organizations across the ideological spectrum in support of the petitioners. Our brief contributed to a victory for the entire philanthropic sector–SCOTUS facially invalidated California’s mandatory disclosure of major donors as a condition of soliciting charitable contributions in the State.

In 2018, Karen argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a case involving administrative law and First Amendment claims in the charitable speech context.

In 2019 and 2020, Karen successfully represented nonprofit and commercial organizations in federal trademark matters in federal district court and before the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Karen also counsels on the formation, structuring and qualification of tax-exempt organizations. She advises clients on nonprofit governance issues, corporate law, regulatory compliance, tax-exempt organizations law, and constitutional law.

She has also worked in the areas of direct marketing and nonprofit fundraising in Washington, D.C.

Karen volunteers as a cooperating attorney on the legal panel of the ACLU of Kansas and serves on the Board of the Kansas City Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. She also serves of the Board of Kansas City-based Non-Profit Connect and participates in the Government Affairs Committee of the Nonprofit Alliance based in Washington, D.C. Karen is Chair of the St. Anthony’s Pastoral Council, Lector and Pre-Cana Minister. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, running, and spending time with family.