UPDATE: On September 28, 2008, 33 pastors from across the country endorsed candidates for political office, an activity which violates Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and jeopardizes the tax-exempt status of their respective churches. This concerted effort was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a 501(c)(3)...
ADVOCACY & LOBBYING
Foundations Supporting Advocacy
Private foundations are subject to strong prohibitions on “direct” and “grassroots” lobbying, generally meaning any direct contact with a member of a legislative body regarding specific legislation and encouragement by the foundation to have individuals contact legislators to convey a position on specific legislation, respectively. However, as the Donor...
Charity Lobbying – Report from the John Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project
A recent report from the John Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project, authored by Lester M. Salamon and Stephanie Lessans Geller, shows that charities are not lobbying as much as they perhaps should: the vast majority of charities spent less than 2 percent of their budgets on either lobbying or...
Affiliated 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) Organizations
According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are over 1 million groups with 501(c)(3) charitable status operating in the United States. Given that these charitable nonprofit organizations may have the substantial contact with populations in need, they carry the potential to be an influential factor in raising...
Political Campaign Activity on the Internet
With the increased attention of an election-year, it is crucial that the nonprofit organizations attempting to push their issues to the forefront and mobilize public support remember the political activity boundaries the government has placed based on their tax-exempt status. On July 28, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)...
Charities and Political Campaign Activities – All Saints Episcopal Church
On September 21, 2006, All Saints Episcopal Church declared that it will refuse to comply with an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for possible violation of tax laws prohibiting charitable organizations described under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code from engaging in political campaign activities. The investigation...
Form 5768 – 501(h) Election for Public Charities
Form 5768 – Election/Revocation of Election by an Eligible Section 501(c)(3) Organization to Make Expenditures to Influence Legislation. This is the form used to make (or revoke) a Section 501(h) election (discussed in the Introduction to Lobbying by Public Charities post dated July 22, 2006).
Cheat Sheet – Lobbying and Public Charities
You can download the third in my series of Cheat Sheets – Lobbying and Public Charities. Download cheat_sheet_lobbying_v.2.doc
Federal Election Commission Released Proposed Interim Final Rule to Protect Grassroots Lobbying – August 3, 2006
The Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, Hans van Spakovsky, proposed an Interim Final Rule exempting certain grassroots lobbying communications from advertising restrictions imposed by the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The exemption would apply where, among other things, the communication (i) is directed at an incumbent in his...
Formation and Control of a 501(c)(3) Affiliate
A 501(c)(3) organization may under proper circumstances be formed and controlled by a 501(c)(4) organization. In order to receive separate tax treatment, the 501(c)(3) must be formed as a separate entity distinct from the 501(c)(4) organization, with a separate federal employer identification number and separate purposes, governing documents, bank...