PROVIDENCE, RI, October 20, 2025 – Partridge Snow & Hahn (PSH) Partner Elizabeth O. Manchester and Counsel Sean M. Fontes will present the program, “Building a Resilient and High-Performing Nonprofit Culture,” at the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit Leadership Circle on Wednesday, October 22. Manchester and Fontes will discuss how organizations can focus on cultivating a healthy organizational culture and attract and engage younger generations of volunteers, board members, and supporters. Attendees will learn strategies for fostering employee engagement, board collaboration and creating a unified mission-driven culture. Registration is available here.
As Chair of PSH’s Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt Practice Group, Manchester represents tax-exempt entities, centered on compliance, formation, charitable gift planning issues, and best practices. She has extensive experience assisting institutions with the inception of planned giving programs, as well as corporate governance matters and maintenance of tax-exempt status. Manchester advises charitable institutions and institutions of higher learning about tax benefits available to donors, to assist in discussions with donors to appropriately advance the organization’s mission. Serving as external general counsel for public charities and private foundations, Manchester advises nonprofits regarding board education and training, fiduciary obligation advice, compliance, donor representation, endowment fund management, finance, Form 990, reporting issues, governance, joint ventures, affiliations and litigation prevention. In addition, she advises nonprofits regarding managing bequests and complex gifts for organizations, mergers and acquisitions, obtaining and maintaining tax exemptions, policies, political and lobbying restrictions and tax.
As Counsel in the Employment and Litigation practice groups, Fontes counsels businesses on new and existing employment law compliance, handles all aspects of collective bargaining agreements, and represents employers who have been sued by their employees for discrimination and wage and hour claims. He also provides trainings to employers on employee discipline, performance management, promotions and terminations, and union grievance procedures and best practices. Fontes also represents businesses in matters beyond employment. He has legal experience in the construction industry, including counselling construction management firms, collective bargaining units, community-based organizations, minority business enterprises, and government procurement officials in his work as counsel to former Governor Raimondo’s Working Group on Diversity In Construction and BuildRI MBE Council.
The Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit Leadership Circle was created to offer an opportunity for nonprofit leaders to gather, share information, and learn from their peers about a variety of topics impacting the nonprofit sector today. The topics for this series are based on feedback from nonprofit members of the Chamber and are strategic, focused on leadership challenges, and designed to foster deep, peer-to-peer discussions. This bi-monthly, lunchtime series takes place at Innovate Newport. PSH is a proud sponsor of the 2025 Nonprofit Leadership Circle series.
***
About Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP
Partridge Snow & Hahn is a full-service business law and litigation firm committed to working collaboratively with clients to develop a deep understanding of their various industries, objectives, and unique ways of working to help advance business goals and solve legal challenges. With offices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the firm focuses on key areas of law: corporate & business, including M&A, employment, tax, and nonprofit; real estate, including commercial financing, energy, environmental, and land use; and complex commercial litigation & disputes.
