Social Enterprise Entities
Social Enterprise Entities address a basic unmet need or solve a societal problem through a market-driven or commercial approach. A Social Enterprise Entity is a business with primarily social objectives. Any profits that are created are reinvested into the charitable or social mission of that entity (or into the community) rather than maximizing profits for shareholders.
Ice Miller's Social Impact Team assists social enterprise entities by:
- Structuring and creating the legal entity, including recognition of federal and state tax exemptions, if desired;
- Creating a legal infrastructure that operates in a commercial space while managing the compliance infrastructure of any charitable participants;
- Negotiating and documenting complex commercial contracts and all related legal issues, including intellectual property, labor and employee benefits, real estate and litigation; and
- Providing advice in highly regulated industries by including cross-practice and market teams across Ice Miller's platform.
Representative Experience
Aggressively Organic, Inc. is a Delaware benefit corporation with a distinct and world-changing mission: end food insecurity in our lifetime. By designing, developing and delivering weapons of mass creation in the form of sustainable, accessible and easy-to-use agricultural systems that can be used by anyone, anytime regardless of space or experience, Aggressively Organic helps people grow their own organic food, no matter where they live: big city or small town, tiny apartment, dorm room or large estate.
As a benefit corporation, Aggressively Organic is uniquely designed to pursue financial returns for its shareholders while also working to solve one of the world’s most looming crises. Aggressively Organic operates at the intersect of business and philanthropy, which allows Ice Miller’s Social Impact Team to counsel the company on a host of issues, including general corporate matters, intellectual property and philanthropic planning in order to help the company develop strategies to increase business growth and social impact. Ice Miller is proud to provide counsel to food and agribusiness start-ups with a social impact mission like Aggressively Organic to achieve long-term goals of both profit and purpose.
INvestEd was established pursuant to Public Law 154 of the 1980 Indiana General Assembly and is a public benefit corporation organized exclusively for educational purposes. It serves as the state of Indiana’s designated secondary market for education loans and provides student loans for the benefit of Indiana students and colleges (both traditional direct loans and refinancing products). As a governmental entity with a federal tax exemption pursuant to Code Section 501(c)(3), INvestEd occupies a very unique space in the marketplace as its student lending activities are conducted within its broader charitable mission of helping Hoosier students responsibly finance their college experience. During the last year, INvestEd provided critical financial aid literacy education and support to more than 30,000 students, providing 1:1 support to 6,000 Hoosiers and conducting over 400 financial aid literacy events statewide. Through the creation of its online portal, The INvestEd Student Loan Marketplace, it has provided a true comparison tool that allows families to learn about and compare private student loan products, side-by-side, to make responsible borrowing decisions.
Ice Miller is privileged to serve as general counsel to INvestEd, providing corporate, governance and tax counsel, including the following specific services:
- Creation of the legal infrastructure for the student loan products, including contracts with outside vendors;
- Periodic bond financing transactions to securitize the loan portfolio;
- Statutory interpretation and guidance relating to INvestEd’s activities and operations; and
- Intellectual property, labor and other regulatory support.