Posts Tagged ‘political campaigns’

Free t-shirts for all audit targets! (no, not really)

There is one phrase in the English language that generates more fear and trepidation than any other out there:  IRS AUDIT.  Just hearing the words is enough to cause many a fearless person to break out in a cold sweat and to shrink in terror.  It is bad enough when an individual has to deal with IRS questions.  But when it happens to a nonprofit organization, there is plenty of pain to go around.  Directors, employees, members, donors…all can be affected.  Plus, just the potential bad publicity is enough to cause nonprofit leaders to reach for the Rolaids.

So how does a nonprofit avoid an IRS examination?  It helps to understand some of the situations and events that can trigger an audit.  In this article, we are going to look at 5 sources of audits and give you advice on how stay out of Uncle Sam’s cross-hairs.

1.  Complaints. One of the most common causes of IRS examinations is a complaint filed by a third  party.  Such “whistle-blower” situations may or may not have a shred of credibility to them.  Typically, if the IRS decides to look into the allegations, it will start out as a compliance exam.  It is possible for one of these exams to progress to the status of a full-blown audit, but most do not…at least for those organizations that are operating completely above board.

Read the rest of this entry »

Occasionally, you have to protect people from themselves.  Even those with the best of intentions can mess things up so badly that it can jeopardize what they are trying to accomplish.  In the nonprofit world, there are best practices, good practices and acceptable practices…and, really, really bad practices that will cause your organization, its board, donors and beneficiaries headaches galore.  This week, we are going to explore the Dirty (Half) Dozen Nonprofit No-Nos, in no particular order.  We will limit our discussion to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

1.  Dictatorships. If you want to be your own boss and run the show as a benevolent dictator, then by all means, go start a business.  Just don’t start a nonprofit organization.  What many people fail to understand before they establish a 501(c)(3) organization is that nonprofits do not have shareholders, i.e., owners…only stakeholders.  Stakeholders can be defined as an organization’s board of directors, its members and its beneficiaries.  No one can legally assume ultimate control.  In fact, the IRS requires tax-exempt organizations to be structured such that control rests within a group of individuals.  This protects everyone involved.  Many times we’ve seen placeholder boards who basically rubber-stamp every decision made by a dictatorially-inclined president or executive director.  That does everyone a disservice.  Even worse, the IRS will hold all the leaders accountable for the governance and management of the organization, not just the dictator.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark your calendars!  Sunday, September 28, 2008 has been declared “Pulpit Freedom Sunday”.  Sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund, the Pulpit Initiative is a bold, stick-in-the-eye movement encouraging pastors to defy the ban on political endorsements by churches.

“For so long, there has been this cloud of intimidation over the church,” ADF attorney Erik Stanley said. “It is the job of the pastors of America to debate the proper role of church in society. It’s not for the government to mandate the role of church in society.”

The  IRS has mandated since 1954 that in order for churches to maintain federal tax exemption, they must not intervene in political campaigns.  The ADF says that amounts to an assault on the First Amendment.  Other groups, like the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, disagree, call it a “stunt” that is part of a larger goal of getting conservative candidates elected.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the upcoming US Presidential election gets closer, information on the IRS’s views on 501(c)(3) organizations and political activity seemed appropriate for this newsletter.

The Internal Revenue Service announced its Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) once again will be in effect for the 2008 election season. The PACI program seeks to educate section 501(c)(3) organizations such as charities and churches about the federal law concerning political campaign activity and to enforce the law in this area.

By law, organizations exempt from tax under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) may not “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

Read the rest of this entry »