CONSUMERS UNION

Nonprofit Conversions

Protecting the Community's Health Assets

Consumers Union has worked for over ten years on the Community Health Assets Project, to defend and redirect charitable assets and services for use by communities as nonprofit institutions abandon prior missions and either formally or in effect convert to for-profit status. In so doing, we work to maintain and increase access to vital services, including affordable, quality health care for low- and moderate-income consumers.

Each conversion represents a tremendous opportunity to preserve community assets and target them toward state or local unmet health needs. This compilation of materials is the culmination of a decade of work and includes vital information that can be used by individuals or organizations to take advantage of this opportunity and participate in the regulatory system governing the local health entities in local communities around the country.

The materials are broken down into four main sections: Corporate Structures, Nonprofit Health Inc., Conversion 101 and Community Involvement. Each section builds upon the one preceding it, but can also be explored independently. The many resources contained here are also available, organized by section, on the Site Map.

Main Sections	Section Descriptions
Corporate Structures	The Corporate Structures section gives background information about the different legal forms into which health entities organize themselves under corporate law. This section gives a general overview of the different types of nonprofit corporations and for-profit corporations with examples from the health world.
Nonprofit Health Inc.	Nonprofit Health Inc. explores in detail, the legal structure of nonprofit corporations with a focus on health entities. This section defines nonprofit corporations' unique characteristics and responsibilities: mission and purpose, ownership, use of assets, dissolution, and tax status.
Conversions 101	Conversions 101 gives a history of and the legal basis for these corporate transactions. A conversion from nonprofit to for-profit can occur in a variety of ways and this section will help the reader identify when a conversion is in the works.
Community Involvement	The Community Involvement section gives guidance about how to fully participate when a health entity attempts to restructure. It is vital that the community be involved in the legal and regulatory processes that occur when a health entity converts, to ensure that the consumer perspective is taken into consideration.