Your Nonprofit Legal Partner

The all-in-one legal program for nonprofit organizations.
Add a lawyer to your team and safeguard your mission.

Running a nonprofit is tough, I know. I worked inside a nonprofit team for years. I know you're a passionate and a competent professional. And you always could use help. Even when you know exactly what needs fixing, it often gets pushed aside because there's always a more urgent need for your attention. Or you’ve been screaming “we need this!” but nobody will listen.

What if you had an attorney and nonprofit consultant by your side, as part of your executive team?

With Mission Guardian, You Can:

  • Stop making critical decisions in isolation
  • Feel confident your nonprofit is legally protected and in good standing
  • Gain a strategic partner dedicated to advancing your mission
  • Know exactly what your legal services will cost
  • Have a trusted advisor to help you take your organization to the next level

Why Traditional Legal Help Fails Nonprofits

After years of advising nonprofits and working in-house, I've identified why many nonprofits struggle to meet their legal needs. Do any of these sound familiar?

The Patchwork Approach: You've cobbled together free legal advice from various sources, but no single lawyer truly understands your organization's culture and challenges.

The Board Member Lawyer: You rely on a lawyer serving on your board who means well but doesn't specialize in nonprofit law. Would you ask a heart surgeon to perform brain surgery?

Budget Uncertainty: Your organization can't effectively budget for legal expenses because costs are unpredictable. You avoid seeking help until there's an emergency—when it becomes much more expensive.

The Billable Hour Fear: You have a lawyer, but you hesitate to call because you know every minute is billable time. So important questions go unasked.

With Mission Guardian, these problems disappear. You'll have:

  • A dedicated legal team that knows you and your organization
  • Professionals who deeply understand the nonprofit sector
  • Transparent pricing you can budget for
  • Freedom to ask questions without watching the clock

The Mission Guardian Difference

Most lawyers think they’re selling you a document. But it’s our relationship that matters.

The Mission Guardian Model

  • Excellent legal advice
  • Transparent pricing
  • Coaching & advice just for you
  • Unlimited communication with the firm
  • Generate custom docs using our apps
  • Searchable educational library
  • Member badge for your website

Traditional Hourly Billing Model

  • Excellent legal advice
  • Unpredictable costs
  • Transaction-based relationship
  • Every minute on the phone is billable
  • Pay separately for every little thing
  • Limited or no self-help resources
  • No recognition of your commitment

The Real Risk of Going It Alone

Many nonprofits try to manage legal issues on their own. But when problems arise, the costs can be devastating:

  • $4,000-5,000 for just one day of arbitration or mediation
  • $36,000 average cost to defend against a frivolous lawsuit
  • 25% IRS penalty for excess benefit transactions
  • Potential loss of your tax-exempt status
  • Jeopardized grant funding and funder relationship
  • Damaged reputation with donors or members
  • Staff time wasted on damage control
  • Your valuable attention diverted from your mission

Why take these risks when you could have expert help for a predictable monthly price?

Your All-Inclusive Mission Guardian Experience

Phase 1: Custom Planning

You'll meet with our team to develop a tailored work plan to strengthen your organization and address your specific needs.

Phase 2: Implement the Work Plan

Once we know what your team needs, we’ll get straight to work. We only accept a few clients into this program at any given time, so your work is our priority.

Phase 3: Ongoing Care

Throughout the year we provide a suite of continuing benefits. These resources would cost over $10,000 a year in billable hours elsewhere—with this program, they're all included.

Quarterly Check-ins with Jess

Something new coming up? No worries, you can check in with Jess 1:1 for any reason – even if it’s not strictly “legal.” Jess has a Masters in nonprofit management, is tech savvy and great with people problems.

Compliance Monitoring

Along the way your dedicated Client Success Paralegal is working to take care of the nonprofit building a knowledge bank of your nonprofit's core compliance requirements

Online Document Generation Apps

I believe if we can turn it into a form most clients can use for free, then we should do that. We’re constantly adding to our library of members-only apps you can use to create customized and fully editable Word documents like:

Choose Your Mission Guardian Membership

1. The Mission Guardian Model

$2,500/mo
Includes:

  • Regular check-ins with your legal team
  • Legal work as you need it
  • Compliance reviews to stay in good standing
  • Access to all document generation apps
  • Searchable educational library
  • Mission Guardian website badge

2. Executive Membership

$5,000/mo
Includes everything in All-in-One, plus:

  • Exec direct message hotline to Jess M-F 8-6 CST
  • Priority responses and scheduling
  • Highest level of personalized service

*Note: Executive Membership seats are very limited. Contact us to check current availability.

Typical Startup Journey

Most startups will follow this general journey, but the exact projects & timeline are determined based on your unique needs. No matter what needs we identify, we will work through them with you one at a time. Most pieces of work can happen within one month, but some are bigger and more complicated (like the IRS application), and those need to be 2 or more months.

This workflow is a visual representation to help you see how the process works. What you need might be a little different. For example, a trade association creating voting members with rights and benefits will spend two months on governance. A church or school will spend three months on their IRS application to prepare additional materials. What you need will vary. We will design a customized work plan for you based on your needs and tell you up front what your minimum commitment is based on what you need to accomplish. You should plan for a minimum of six months.

Month 1 - $2,500

Strategy & Foundations

Month 2 - $2,500

Forming the Corporation

Month 3 - $2,500

Bylaws & Governance

Month 4 - $2,500

Begin IRS Tax-Exemption App

Month 5 - $2,500

Finish IRS Process & Set Strategy

Month 6 - $2,500

Board Training & Enter Phase 2

Month 1 - $2,500

Strategy & Foundations

Month 2 - $2,500

Forming the Corporation

Month 3 - $2,500

Bylaws & Governance

Month 4 - $2,500

Begin IRS Tax-Exemption App

Month 5 - $2,500

Finish IRS Process & Set Strategy

Month 6 - $2,500

Board Training & Enter Phase 2

Typical Startup Journey

Most startups will follow this general journey, but the exact projects & timeline are determined based on your unique needs. No matter what needs we identify, we will work through them with you one at a time. Most pieces of work can happen within one month, but some are bigger and more complicated (like the IRS application), and those need to be 2 or more months.

This workflow is a visual representation to help you see how the process works. What you need might be a little different. For example, a trade association creating voting members with rights and benefits will spend two months on governance. A church or school will spend three months on their IRS application to prepare additional materials. What you need will vary. We will design a customized work plan for you based on your needs and tell you up front what your minimum commitment is based on what you need to accomplish. You should plan for a minimum of six months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let's Get Started

Schedule a FREE 15-minute call with our New Client Guides. Get clarity, guidance, & answers — no pressure, no obligation.

Ready to level up your nonprofit?

Stop worrying about legal surprises and start focusing on your mission with confidence.