Welcome to the Entity Structure section of the Law Center’s Community Enterprise e-Resource Libraries! Here is a summary of what you’ll find in this section of the library:

Overview of Legal Entities: Addresses three important questions for entities in the new economy, on purpose, financing, and governance.

Corporations: This page looks specifically at the concerns of using the corporate form for community enterprises while the following investigates ways to overcome these concerns.

Adapting Legal Entities to Community Enterprises: Discusses some options for how to adapt LLCs, Partnerships, and Corporations.

New Types of For-Profit Entities: This page explores Low-Profit LLCs, Benefit Corporations, Flexible Purpose Corporations, and Social Purpose Corporations.

Cooperatives: Co-opLaw.org is the Law Center e-resource library dedicated to cooperative law and supporting cooperative formation.

Nonprofit Organizations: This page outlines of relevant topics when deciding whether to form as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

Participatory Governance Models: Discusses questions to ask to help determine what governance model makes sense for your situation, and a couple models of governance.

Certifications: This page explains how to certify a business as a B Corporation.