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International Charity Law Network Gatherings

London From Fischerhall 16x9
Trafalgar Square is seen from atop the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway.
 
Charity law determines what entities qualify as “charities” eligible to receive special legal treatment in a variety of areas. With the growth globally of the number, size, and variety of charities, this is an increasingly important and contested area of law. Civil society organizations seeking charity status include advocacy groups, health care entities, schools, social service providers, and other groups that provide an increasing amount of both services and opportunities for civic participation. Given their expanding role, governments use charity law both to support these groups and also to channel, control, or limit their activities. This in turn means that many countries share common issues relating to charity law, but, until recently, the international study of charity law has not kept pace with these developments. To facilitate the academic study of these common issues, the International Charity Law Network organizes in-person gatherings of charity law scholars, along with interested charity law regulators and practitioners.
 

2027 Gathering

POSTPONEMENT OF 2026 INTERNATIONAL CHARITY LAW NETWORK CONFERENCE TO SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2027: It is with deep regret that we inform you of the postponement of the International Charity Law Network Conference originally scheduled for September 2026 at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya. Due to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the conference organizing committee, after consultation with the Network's Board of Advisors, Strathmore University, and the conference funders, has decided to postpone the conference for a year. However, we are pleased to also announce that with the assistance of Strathmore University, the conference host, we have now rescheduled the conference for Thursday, September 23rd and Friday, September 24th, 2027. The conference location remains Nairobi, Kenya.The conference will bring together leading and emerging charity law scholars from around the world and African charity law regulators and practitioners. The conference is generously supported by the Muttart Foundation, Notre Dame Law School, Osgoode Hall Law School (York University), and Strathmore University Law School.

2024 Gathering

The most recent gathering of the International Charity Law Network was a conference held on Thursday, September 19th and Friday September 20th in Toronto, Canada and hosted by the Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. The first day of the conference involved thirty charty law scholars and law students from five continents, with presentations  and discussion focusing on more than a dozen works-in-progress. The second day of the conference also included over thirty Canadian and United States regulators and practitioners, with panels focusing on a range of international charity law topics. The organizing committee consisted of University College Dublin Professor Oonagh B. Breen, University of Notre Dame Professor Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, and Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Adam Parachin. The Mastercard Foundation, the Muttart Foundation, and Notre Dame Law School generously supported the event.

 

2022 Gathering

Notre Dame Law School hosted the inaugural International Charity Law Network gathering on September 23-24, 2022, at the University of Notre Dame's London Global Gateway.

This "Charity Law Workshop" provided an opportunity for charity law scholars from a variety of countries to share their ongoing work and to develop the International Charity Law Network. The primary organizers of the Workshop were University of Melbourne Dean Matthew Harding, University of Notre Dame Professor Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, and University of Liverpool Professor Debra Morris.

Other charity law conferences tend to focus on charity law in a single country, with little to no attention paid to charity law developments in other countries. Existing nonprofit academic conferences tend to primarily focus on non-legal, social science research. The Workshop was designed to fill the gap left by these gatherings. 

2022 Charitylawworkshop
2022 Charity Law Workshop

Leading and emerging charity law scholars from five continents participated in the workshop to learn from each other and lay the groundwork for future collaborations.

  • Sue Barker | Director, Sue Barker Charities Law
  • Warren Barr | Interim Dean & Professor, University of Liverpool
  • Jenny Beard | Associate Professor, University of Melbourne
  • Oonagh Breen | Professor, University College Dublin
  • Kathryn Chan | Associate Professor, University of Victoria
  • Matthew Harding | Dean, University of Melbourne
  • Jill Horwitz | Professor, University of California Los Angeles
  • Giedre Lideikyte Huber | Senior Lecturer, University of Geneva
  • Rosemary Langford | Professor, University of Melbourne
  • Rebecca Lee | Associate Professor, University of Hong Kong
  • Dejian Li | Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University of Technology
  • Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer | Professor, University of Notre Dame
  • Lara McMurtry | Reader in Law Keele University
  • Debra Morris | Professor, University of Liverpool
  • Ian Murray | Associate Professor, University of Western Australia
  • Jane Calderwood Norton | Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland
  • Adam Parachin | Professor, York University
  • John Picton | Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
  • Dana Brakman Reiser | Professor, Brooklyn Law School
  • Alceste Santuari | Associate Professor, University of Bologna
  • Mark Sidel | Professor, University of Wisconsin
  • Jennifer Sigafoos | Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
  • Mary Synge | Fellow, Universities of Liverpool & Melbourne
  • Masayuki Tamaruya | Professor, University of Tokyo
  • Hang Wu Tang | Professor, Singapore Management University
  • Mukami Wangai | Lecturer, Strathmore Law School