logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Group Asks Baucus to Investigate Political Activity of Nonprofits

Aaron Lester
October 7, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

October 6, 2010; Source: The Washington Indepenent |
On September 28, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) wrote a letter to the IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman asking for a thorough investigation into the use of tax-exempt groups for political activity. The letter can be read here.

Campaign finance watchdog groups applauded the move at the time, but now at least one group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, suggests that there is “no need to punt to the IRS.” In a letter to Baucus [PDF] the group says the Senate Finance Committee has the jurisdiction to hold hearings or launch its own independent investigation into nonprofits that may be flouting the rules.

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which found that corporations are able spend as much as they want for or against political candidates a frenzy of spending by groups outside the party system was unleashed this year, most of it by donors who do not have to be publicly identified.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

While 501(c)(3) public charities are absolutely prohibited from political campaign activities [PDF], 501(c)(4) “social welfare organizations” (as well as 501(c)(5) labor organizations and 501(c)(6) business leagues) can engage in campaign activities “so long as it does not constitute the organization’s primary activity,” according to the IRS.

In recent years, the Senate Finance Committee has conducted investigations into groups affiliated with ACORN, the tax-exempt ministries of six televangelists, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and others. As The Washington Independent notes however, because Congress is on recess there is little chance of anything happening before the midterm elections in November.—Aaron Lester

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Aaron Lester

Share a little biographical information to fill out your profile. This may be shown publicly.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell and Jenn Stowe
Race, Class, and Climate: Organizing for a Better Future in Pueblo, Colorado
Jamie Valdez
Faith as a Pathway to Climate Action
Anmol Irfan
Countering Authoritarianism: Forging a Progressive Response to Fragmentation
john a. powell and Sara Grossman

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.