Chef Brian Ingram, owner of Hope Breakfast Bar locations in the Twin Cities and the Apostle Supper Club in St. Paul, has built a reputation around donating proceeds from his restaurants to community causes through a nonprofit, Give Hope.
Over the past four years since he started Give Hope, Ingram has given away tens of thousands of pounds of food and free meals, and has donated significant amounts of money to the families of Daunte Wright, a Black man fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center police officer in 2021, and of first responders who were slain in Burnsville earlier this year.
Give Hope has been operating since summer 2023 without an active 501(c)(3) designation, the federal status that allows nonprofit donations to be tax-deductible.
Meanwhile, Ingram is working to change the legal structure behind the organization so it’s no longer a nonprofit at all and is instead a private C-corporation, which he said is better suited to being able to give on-the-spot donations to people in need whom he encounters in his personal and professional life.
To be clear, nonprofits may legally operate without an active 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS, and it is not unlawful for such nonprofits to accept donations, said Simon Trautmann, an attorney who specializes in business and nonprofit law.
Ingram confirmed Give Hope’s 501(c)(3) determination lapsed in the summer of 2023 because the organization did not file renewal paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service, which Ingram said was an intentional but misinformed choice: He intended to shut down the nonprofit as part of the shift toward a corporate structure, but had previously received “bad advice” and was not fully aware of the often lengthy legal processes necessary to dissolve an organization with 501(c)(3) status.
Ingram said a new team of attorneys and accountants are currently working to refile Give Hope’s 501(c)(3) paperwork for the express purpose of winding down the organization properly.
To remain in good legal standing, Give Hope is also in the process of clarifying details about its charitable fundraising activities with the Minnesota attorney general’s office.
In February, the Charities Registrar, an office under state Attorney General Keith Ellison, sent Give Hope a warning letter outlining the terms of the Minnesota Charitable Solicitation Act, a law that requires entities to register with the state if they meet certain criteria involving making public fundraising requests for benevolent purposes.
The letter, reviewed by the Pioneer Press, does not make a determination as to whether Give Hope is bound by the Charitable Solicitation Act. It states in general terms that, if Give Hope does indeed meet these criteria, the organization “may need to register with this Office.”
Ingram told the Pioneer Press he filed registration paperwork in early May, to remain compliant as per the terms of the letter.
Brian Ingram, owner of the Gnome Craft Pub, checks fresh tomatoes in a tent he is using to distribute food to hospitality workers in need at the Gnome Craft Pub on Selby Ave. in St. Paul on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Ingram estimates between 600-700 people received groceries on Tuesday. Ingram has partnered with corporate donors like U.S. Foods and Reinhart Food Service, and the Ramsey County SheriffÕs Office, which helped pick up and drop off donations. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
However, as of May 10, according to a spokesperson for Ellison’s office, Give Hope is not, nor has ever been, registered as a charitable organization.
On May 9, the attorney general’s office sent a follow-up letter noting that Ingram had neither registered nor claimed an exemption. Ingram said that, as of May 10, he had not received this letter.
Letters such as these are meant as good-faith reminders and are not in and of themselves an accusation of wrongdoing, Ellison’s spokesperson said.
The A.G.’s office does not comment on whether active investigations exist and is unable to confirm or deny whether it believes Ingram has run afoul of finance laws.
Trautmann does not have direct knowledge of Ingram’s financial dealings and cannot provide specific legal determinations, he said. But if any organization without an active 501(c)(3) status were to have solicited funds under the false guise of having that tax-exempt status, he said, the organization could be liable to face fraud charges.
It may also be unlawful, per the letter from the A.G.’s office, for an organization to have solicited charitable funds from the public without having first been registered with the state.
Ingram told the Pioneer Press that Give Hope did accept donated funds after the 501(c)(3) status had lapsed in summer 2023, but Ingram said he did not, to his knowledge, present the organization to donors as having 501(c)(3) status when it did not, nor did he knowingly offer tax benefits when he was not legally permitted to do so.
Additionally, Ingram said his accountants are currently working with the IRS to refile the organization’s tax documents for the 2023 calendar year in addition to renewing the 501(c)(3) determination, to ensure that “we don’t have anybody that may have gotten caught up in us not being a 501(c)(3)” for the second half of 2023, he said.
Ingram said he is not aware of any active legal investigation against him.
Hope to donate more easily
As for the shift in the legal structure of Give Hope, Ingram framed the switch from a nonprofit to a private corporation as a practical necessity, to be able to respond to community needs as quickly and frictionlessly as possible.
He posted a note on the organization’s website explaining the change in response to questions from a reporter from KSTP-TV.
Ingram said: Folks facing urgent needs cannot necessarily wait for nonprofit leaders in a boardroom to debate whether they’re ‘worthy’ of aid. Ingram’s viewpoint, he said, is that if someone needs help, you find a way to help them.
“We need to react to the world around us, right now,” Ingram said. “I can’t ask someone for their Social Security and bank information and tell them we’ll make a decision about whether we can help them in a few weeks.”
Legally speaking, money controlled by nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status is a public asset, Trautmann said. Therefore, these organizations must disclose financial information through IRS Form 990, he said, and funds flowing outward from nonprofits are obligated to align with the organization’s specific tax-exempt purpose and not create a “private benefit” for key stakeholders or employees. This, Trautmann said, is why it’s best practice for nonprofit leaders to vet the recipients of their funds to ensure their organizations’ compliance.
Private corporations are subject to different IRS tax-filing requirements, Trautmann said.
Going forward, as the head of the version of Give Hope that operates as a private corporation, Ingram has direct discretion over where that corporation’s money goes.
Ingram said he understands that this giving model appears less transparent, and he emphasized that the move is not an attempt to dodge legal rules or evade accountability. In fact, he said, because he’ll no longer be able to claim 501(c)(3)-related tax benefits, he’ll ultimately incur a greater personal financial burden in order to give back in the way he sees as most fulfilling.
The state’s statutes surrounding charitable solicitations are also meant to provide a degree of public oversight over fundraising efforts and donation campaigns, per the attorney general’s office.
Ingram admits that this structure necessitates more trust — trust from the public that Ingram is disbursing the money in good faith, and trust from Ingram that the recipients of his funds are truly in need.
“This is our purpose, to give back to our community,” Ingram said. “That’s why we’re Purpose Restaurants. I’m just hoping people will continue to walk with us in that.”
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