Gideon Rosenblatt's Blog: Discussion on Nonprofit Lobbying. Gideon points out Jeffrey Berry's Post article on nonprofits' perceived restrictions on lobbying. Berry finds that of the 1700 organizations surveyed there is "widespread misunderstandings that lead organizations to be needlessly overcautious in their lobbying activities".
I wonder what percent is "misunderstanding" vs. fear of opposition attacks, apathy and the influence of conservative political elites on Boards and in the donor pool. Funders want groups to stay out of politics regardless of IRS rules.
It would be great if Little Sisters of the Poor (I was a dish washer in one of their homes for the elderly) would start lobbying. These nuns are great workers that Berry thinks are not lobbying because of "misunderstanding" the H option. Are the nuns afraid of IRS? (Did I mention I was 14 working on heavy industrial cleaning equipment? ) They don't engage in political lobbying because they get government grants. They also need donations from old conservative Catholics that don't want to see the Little Sisters creating wedge issues on supporting the poor and elderly for the school voucher supporting right wing political candidates.
Is it fear of the IRS or fear that powerful opposition industry can turn lawyers and accounting problems to attack little nonprofits? Many of our interviewees told us they believed that the IRS was vigilantly monitoring their political activity. On a number of occasions we heard the story of how the IRS busted the Sierra Club for its lobbying.
The article is useful and important cannon fodder to attack political compliancy among nonprofit organizations. My favorite shots:
The leaders of the nation's nonprofits do many things well, but representing their clients' interests before government is not one of them.
I found them remarkably ill-informed about the primary law that governs their operations.
"We're not allowed to lobby. We're not allowed to influence public policy."
We found that the typical executive director of a 501(c)(3) has little understanding of what the law actually says. Almost half of those surveyed are so ignorant of the law that they don't even believe their organization has the right to take a public stand on federal legislation (perfectly permissible)
Most worrisome is that the office (IRS) will undertake a review based on the complaints of an organization's rivals.
Compounding the problem of an ambiguous law and erratic enforcement is the passivity of nonprofit CEOs. By failing to learn the law, they are willing accomplices.
Good News and Get IT straight: "H election," is crystal clear in specifying the amounts that a nonprofit can expend on lobbying. Based on a sliding scale keyed to annual income, a nonprofit can spend up to as much as 20 percent of its revenues on lobbying. And because the regulations for the H election define lobbying rather narrowly, very little of what a nonprofit H elector does in its advocacy efforts counts as a lobbying expenditure. In short, it's difficult for a typical nonprofit to ever reach the H expenditure ceilings.
Taking the H election could not be easier. Form 5768, which can be downloaded from the tax forms box at www.irs.gov, only asks for an organization's name, address and a signature. It takes no more than 60 seconds to fill out. The IRS has also issued formal guidelines indicating that the H election is not a red flag for an audit and it appears to have kept its word.
Other Sources:
Western States Center (Great List of Links)
LCV- How to LobbyCLPI-The Nonprofit Lobbying Guide, The Second Edition (entire book in one file, 990KB)
OMB Watch - Attacks on Nonprofit Speech
