Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast

Team work makes the dream work.  While nonprofits normally have their individual policy agendas and platforms, sometimes working with an affiliated organization, most also join in coalition with others in order to more effectively drive policy change.  For example, immigration right groups may join with groups that advocate for kids to better protect our youngest undocumented immigrants. 

Today’s show addresses the differences between c3 and c4 types of organizations so that coalitions can think more strategically about how to use both within a campaign. 

 

• The Different Types of Nonprofits That We’ll be Talking About Today.
• Tax lawyers are not creative when it comes to naming conventions. 501(c)(3) refers to the Tax Code provision that defines the creation of a nonprofit public charity.
• That’s right, there’s 501(c)(1) through ((c)(29).
• 501(c)(3) organizations are those typically referred to as nonprofits: and are designed to be tax exempt so long as they are organized and operated for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. We’ve linked to the law in our show notes so you can see the long-winded version.
• Organizations that are also tax exempt but found under 501(c)(4) of the Tax Code are referred to as social welfare organizations
• A social welfare organization is defined as a civic leagues or an organization operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.
• These 501(c)(4) organizations will look a lot like the public charities and are often referred to as nonprofit.
• The key takeaway is that there are lots of different types of nonprofits—organizations that do not pay a federal income tax on the money they collect at the end of the year. And because these organizations are under different sections of the tax code, different rules apply.
• That’s why tax lawyers are very creative when it comes to strategy--you can find all sorts of ways to craft language to meet what an organization can do, and to use money to its fullest extent possible, even when it is restricted in use. 
• Lobbying and Partisan work
• A c3 can lobby and do advocacy but is expressly prohibited from engaging in partisan work, anything that supports or opposes candidates running for public office.
• A c4 must have as its primary purpose the same types of activities that a c3 can do (advocacy and lobbying) but can also engage in partisan candidate work during elections so long as it is only a secondary activity for the organization
• Secondary purpose
• What is secondary? Well, generally that means less than 50% but conservative attorneys often recommend that partisan candidate work is less than 40% of the organization’s total activities. 
• So a c4 can do everything the c3 can do but can also hold candidates accountable, endorse candidates, compare candidates to the org’s issues

 

• Affiliated structures: Common Paymaster and other behind the scenes details (Ronnie)
• A c3 and c4 can also be related organizations and share employees and resources
• common paymaster, grants and resource agreements are the behind the scenes details that make affiliated organization relationships work--with really only the common paymaster visible to the staff as it results in one paycheck.
• So the code provides 4 different ways for common paymasters to be supported, and one of the easiest is that the c3 and c4 have at least 50% overlap on the board. Another one of the tests is that the organizations share 30% of its employees.  
• When it comes to engaging in advocacy, affiliated organizations face many of the same issues when deciding what activities to engage in. The primary issue is always how to ensure the c3 is following the rules that apply to its tax structure.
• Example of Coalition Work with c4
• Sometimes the back office flow of money needs to be discussed in coalition when talking about a coalition where the groups need to be more strategic in who pays what. Because a c3 coalition member has to be clear about how its money and name are being utilized. 
• For example, sometimes the coalition members agree to work together on a policy issue but recognize that each member is going to do different types of activities. Always be clear with your brand and where your dollars are being used.  Or like a loose coalition, mostly acting under your own name but strategically trying to stay together and pull different levers.  The goal is to not work at cross purposes or undermine each other.
• Pledge Cards by the c4.
• A c4 organization can compare its mission to whether the candidate agrees with its mission. A c3 cannot.
• Example, Vote for ProChoice Candidates Like Candidates x.
• When there’s a flyer that uses logos, the c3 logo cannot appear on a coalition flyer that is partisan.
• Knocking on Doors
• A c4 organization could wear the nonprofits shirts and provide volunteers to specific campaigns with their issue.
• For example, lets say it is a pro-immigration candidate and the c4 organization provides refugee services. The c4 can walk with flyers saying this candidate supports refugees.
• In coalition, the c3 has to think about the political perception issues when working in coalition with c4 organizations that do this type of work.
• Sharing Resources. When a c4 organization works with a c3 organizations, sometimes the c3 organization will provide a grant for lobbying purposes to the c4.  The c3 has to count that money on its 990 as lobbying, as does the c4, but in this way, the c3 can sometimes more easily account for policy work since it is providing a lump sum.  Sort of like a contractor relationship.  Similarly, if the dollars aren’t all going to lobbying, the c3 and coalition must know where the money is going.  The budget for the coalition has to be understood by all the parties.  For example, the coalition could issue the “dues request” or “funding request” outlining how much is lobbying, education, etc.
• Websites: A shared coalition website has to remain nonpartisan and cannot have the endorsement slate.  The two click idea –that the c3 reference to the c4 website land on something c3 permissible.  Or even use a pop up window.

 

Resources at bolderadvocacy.org

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/501

BA Coalition Checklist: https://bolderadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BA-Coalition-Checklist-1.pdf

https://www.bolderadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/501c4-Strategy-and-Discussion-Guide.pdf

On this episode of Rules of the Game, we’re going to talk about money. Because at this point you already know that 501(c)(3) public charities and 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are allowed to lobby and pursue robust advocacy agendas, but how can they secure funding to make their short and long-term advocacy goals a reality? Stick with us for the next few minutes, and we’ll have the answers you are looking for. 

 

Our hosts for this episode: 

Natalie Ossenfort  

Jen Powis 

 

MISCONCEPTION #1: Foundations are not allowed to fund lobbying - REALITY: Both public and private foundations can fund grantees that lobby 

• COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS 

• Just another type of public charity 
• Allowed to engage in lobbying and directly fund grantee lobbying activities 
• Lobbying grants will count against lobbying limit of foundation and public charity grantee 

• PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS 

• Rules for private foundations are a bit more restrictive than those for public charities / community foundations 

• Not allowed to engage in lobbying and effectively prohibited from earmarking grants for lobbying purposes (if they do these activities, the foundation and managers are subject to a prohibitive excise tax) 
• This does not mean that private foundations can’t fund grantees that lobby: 

• General support grants are not earmarked for any particular purpose, so a grantee could choose to use those funds for lobbying without exposing their private foundation funder to an excise tax  
• Specific project grants are another option. So long as the grantee’s project budget clearly delineates between lobbying and non-lobbying expenses, the private foundation can fund up to the non-lobbying portion of the grant request without earmarking funds for lobbying / exposing itself to an excise tax.  

• Grantees can go to multiple PF’s, each can give up to the non-lobbying portion of the grant request. 

• GENERAL 

• Both private and public foundations must prohibit their funds from being used for partisan political purposes / support or opposition of candidates 
• Grantees should carefully check the language of their grant agreements to see if lobbying is prohibited. Language that says that the funds are “not earmarked for lobbying” is not the same as language that says that lobbying is prohibited. 
• EXAMPLES that sound restrictive, but actually permit lobbying:  

• “Lobbying and Non-Permitted Uses: This grant is not in any way earmarked to support or carry on any lobbying or voter registration activity. Grantee warrants that none of these funds will be used to influence legislation unless permitted by law.” 

• “This grant is not earmarked for influencing legislation within the meaning of IRC Section 4945(e), and the foundation and Grantee have made no agreement, oral or written, to that effect.” 

 

MISCONCEPTION #2: Foundations can’t fund public charity voter registration drives 

• Both private and public foundations can fund the NONPARTISAN voter registration activities of public charities, but the rules for private foundations can be a bit complicated... 

• VR Drive must be nonpartisan, over multiple election cycles, in five or more states and cannot be subject to conditions requiring use of the funding in a specific state or election cycle. 

• There are also requirements related to the grantee’s finances (e.g. at least 85% of organization’s income must be spent on activities relating to the purposes for which it was organized) 
• Public charities can receive an advanced ruling from IRS certifying their ability to receive private foundation voter registration grants (confirms that organization meets the requirements of sec. 4945(f) of tax code) 

 

MISCONCEPTION #3: Foundations are not allowed to fund 501(c)(4)s. REALITY: Both private and public foundations can fund 501(c)(4)s.... if they know the rules 

• COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS 

• Can fund any work conducted by 501(c)(4) that the community foundation itself would be allowed to engage in (e.g. lobbying, but NOT partisan political activity) 
• IRS presumes that grant to 501(c)(4) is for lobbying  

• needs to count against public foundation’s grassroots lobbying limit (unless grant was expressly made for direct lobbying purposes and foundation can show that funds were spent on direct lobbying) 
• Grant will not be counted as a lobbying expense if it is a controlled grant expressly given for non-lobbying purposes (prohibits lobbying with grant funds) 

• PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS 

• Must use “expenditure responsibility” when making grants to organizations that are not 501(c)(3)s 

• Must conduct a pre-grant inquiry and execute a written grant agreement. The foundation must ensure that funds are spent only for the purposes expressly agreed upon. 
• Must obtain detailed reports from grantee about how funds are spent 
• Must provide complete report of expenditures to IRS on annual 990-PF 
• Must prohibit partisan political activities AND lobbying. Because of this, it’s often easier for 501(c)(4)s to raise lobbying funds from individuals and community foundations. 

 

 

Resources 

Foundation Advocacy Grants: What Grantees Need to Know 

Investing in Change: A Funder’s Guide to Supporting Advocacy 

On this episode, we celebrate Pride month with a discussion about the fight for equality at the ballot, in legislatures and the courts. From Stonewall to Obergefell and beyond, nonprofits have stood center stage as key advocates. 

 

The pod team for this episode 

Zack Ford 

Tim Mooney 

Natalie Ossenfort 

 

Milestones 

• 1961: Illinois becomes first state to decriminalize homosexuality 
• 1969: Raid of Stonewall Inn (NYC) 
• 1973: Lambda Legal becomes the first legal organization created specifically to fight for gay rights, and Maryland becomes first state to legislatively ban same-sex marriage 
• 1978: Inspired by Harvey Milk, Gilbert Baker designs the first rainbow flag as a symbol of pride 

• 1996: Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law by President Clinton, banning federal recognition of same-sex marriage 
• 1998: Murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming makes national news. His killers are later sentenced to life in prison 
• 2009: President Obama signs into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act 
• 2011: Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell 
• 2013: U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor strikes down part of DOMA, paving the way for legally-married, same-sex couples to receive federal benefits 

• 2015: U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges holds that 14th Amendment requires states to recognize same-sex marriages 
• 2021: President Biden issues executive order repealing former administration’s ban on transgender Americans joining the military 

 

Nonprofit advocates and their work 

 

Recent Developments / Coming Soon... 

• During the 87th Legislative session, nonprofit advocates in TEXAS successfully defeated SB 29, which would have banned transgender student athletes from competing on sports teams based on their gender identity. Local nonprofits like the Texas Freedom Network and Equality Texas led the charge in advocating against the bill alongside several other incredible nonprofits. While it’s possible the bill may be revived during a later legislative session, there is much to celebrate for now. 

• ARKANSAS recently passed a new law (one of the first of its kind in the nation) that bans gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. The ACLU recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of four families and two doctors, who argue that the law is unconstitutional and that it should be struck down so that all children have access to medically necessary care. 
• Any day now, the United States SUPREME COURT is expected to release a decision in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which will decide the constitutionality of a Philadelphia ordinance that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. A legal challenge against the ordinance was brought by a Catholic foster agency that lost its contract with the city as a result of the nondiscrimination policy. The agency says that the policy violates its First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and speech. 

 

Resources 

• LGBTQ Advocacy Toolkit 

• The Work for LGBTQ Equality Marches On by Leslie Barnes 

• Learn more about Daniel Quasar's redesigned Pride flag 

On this episode, we cover a very specific type of lobbying that doesn’t necessarily seem like lobbying in the first place. Ballot measures can range from local bonds to state constitutional amendments, and everything in between. What can nonprofits do to support or oppose them, and how do they comply with state and federal law?  

 

Our attorneys for this episode 

• Tim Mooney 
• Natalie Ossenfort 
• Quyen Tu 

 

What are Ballot Measures? 

• Called different things in different states and localities 

• • Bond 
  • Constitutional Amendments 
  • Referenda 
  • Ballot questions / initiatives  
  • Propositions 
  • Any policy matter put to a vote of the general public 

•  

• There are no federal ballot measures, but federal law has one major thing to say about measures for 501(c)(3)s 
• State and sometimes local laws cover campaign finance and reporting requirements 

 

Can nonprofits take a stance? 

• No. End of episode. (just kidding!) 
• Most can. All 501(c)s that aren’t charities or foundations can (generally) do an unlimited amount of ballot measure advocacy, but must follow state and local laws for reporting their work 
• Public charities can take a stance, but ballot measures are lobbying (which is why this episode is in the lobbying series!). From there, they also have to follow state and local laws for reporting their work 

• Private foundations cannot take a stance on ballot measures (again...lobbying) without being hit with a big excise tax 

 

Wait, lobbying? Tell me more. 

• Boil it down? Voters are a giant legislative body 
• Direct lobbying, not grassroots – and that’s good because charities can do more direct lobbying 

• Doesn’t violate the prohibition on electioneering to support or oppose measures because they are not related to candidates 

• Be careful to make sure your org’s advocacy isn’t seen as/tied to a candidate’s position on the ballot measures 

• Clock starts ticking when petitions go out to qualify for the ballot or (probably) when you’re lobbying legislative bodies when they are determining whether to refer an item to the voters 
• Count all prep work, staff time, communications costs, etc. 
• You non-c3s? Tax law doesn’t restrict lobbying, and this counts toward primary purpose activity... so load up on your GOTV and voter reg work on ballot measures and (strategy time!) it can offset candidate work you do. 

 

State laws... 

Every state is different, starting with the fact some states don’t have ballot measures at all. Even states without statewide ballot measures like NY have local bond measures though. 

Any state or locality with ballot measures has some kind of registration and reporting laws 

We have state law resources for your state! Examples: 

Texas 

Corporations (including nonprofits) can support or oppose ballot measures in Texas. 

• Texas Election Code defines a political committee as two or more persons acting in concert with a principal purpose of accepting political contributions or making political expenditures. Since the definition of “persons” includes nonprofit corporations and expenditures and contributions include those made in connection with a measure, it is possible for nonprofits to trigger PAC registration and reporting in Texas even if they don’t do any candidate-related work. 
• TRANSLATION: if a group of nonprofits comes together to raise funds for the support or opposition of a measure, they may need to register and report as a PAC. 
• It is also possible that if a nonprofit acts on its own to impact a ballot measure, it could trigger direct campaign expenditure (aka independent expenditure) reporting even if it doesn’t coordinate its work with other organizations or individuals. DCE reporting, as it’s sometimes referred to, kicks in when more than $100 is spent to support or oppose a measure. 
• Of course, there are other scenarios as well that might not require state-level reporting in the ballot measure context in Texas (e.g. nonprofit contributions to a ballot measure only PAC), so feel free to reach out to our TX team if you have any questions about when and what you have to report when you engage in ballot measure advocacy. 

Oregon 

• Trivia: Oregon is one of the first states to adopt ballot measures... started them in 1902 (just behind SD and UT) 
• Five forms: state statutes (legislature or citizen referred), constitutional amendments (legislature or citizen referred), and veto referenda. 
• If your nonprofit’s purpose is to support/oppose a ballot measures you have to register as a political committee 
• No contribution limits (those are unconstitutional per SCOTUS)  

• Real time online reporting (ORESTAR!!!!) 
• 3 reporting periods 
• Contributions over $100 - the name/address of the donor disclosed 

California 

• These rules are about transparency and tracking money in CA elections. 
• Most important: if you engage in certain fundraising activities or spending, you could become a ballot measure committee and not even know it. That means your nonprofit would have filing and reporting obligations. 
• There just isn’t enough time to do justice to the CA BM rules on this show so if you’re interested in a whole show, please shoot us an email 
• Ballot measures are treated as campaign activity 
• Rules are designed so that when people or organizations accept or spend money for ballot measures, it gets reported by someone. 

• When there is advocacy for a ballot measure, there will be a main ballot measure committee. Must report contributions of $100+, whether financial or in-kind, and expenditures. This usually works best as a separate entity from a 501(c)(3). 
• Even if you are not the main ballot measure committee, there are ways NPs could trigger reporting with the FPPC 

• receiving or spending money on ballot measure advocacy 

• receive $2k+ in calendar year earmarked for ballot measures, you become a recipient committee. Recipient committees have to report their donors. 
• Another way to become a recipient committee is to spend at least $50k in non-earmarked donated funds. At these higher levels of spending it gets more detailed so please check out our resources.  

• Major Donor Committee: give $10k+ in calendar year to a recipient committee (staff time counts) but does not receive $ earmarked for ballot measures 
• Independent Expenditure Committee: spends $1k+ in a calendar year on communications that expressly advocates for/against ballot measures and not made in coordination with a ballot measure committee 

• Non reportable activities: 

• 10% or less of staff time 

• Paid staff time counts as an expenditure, or if it’s coordinated with a ballot measure committee, a contribution. If you have staff spending more than 10% of their time in any calendar month on ballot measures, you need to consider that expenditure towards these thresholds. 

• Newsletter 
• Member communications 
• Contracted services to the ballot measure committee 
• Certain limited fundraising expenses 
• Raising money for the ballot measure committee where the contributions go directly to the ballot measure committee (funds do not pass through the org)  

• You can ask people to donate to the main ballot measure committee and only your fundraising costs would count as a contribution toward these thresholds, some fundraising costs are even exempt from reporting. 

Final thoughts? 

• Often critically important advocacy 
• Private foundations! You can and should support this work, even though you cannot directly advocate or fund it. How? 

• • general support grants 
  • specific project grants for non-lobbying portions of the work 
  • educate the public about the ballot measure process 
  • communications that qualify as nonpartisan analysis 
  • communications that are neutral urging voters to study the issue 

 

Resources 

• Bolder Advocacy ballot measure toolkit 
• Seize the Initiative 
• Foundations and Ballot Measures 

• California Campaign Finance and Ballot Measure Guide 
• Ballot Measure Activities Exempt from California Disclosure Laws 
• Initiating Policy Change: Circulating Ballot Initiatives in California 
• Texas Campaign Finance and Ballot Measure Guide 

 

On this episode, we have issued ourselves a challenge... to make a relatively dry topic interesting for our listeners... What is that topic, you ask? The Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA)! We’ll talk about what it is, why you may NOT need to worry about it (unless you do), strategies for compliance, and how it all fits into earlier episodes in our lobbying series, at least for you 501(c)(3)s.      Our Lawyers  Tim Mooney  Natalie Ossenfort  Leslie Barnes     Quick Preamble   Lobbyists are not all mustache twirling villains you read about!   They're civil rights groups trying to fight back against attempts to restrict voting for partisan gain  They're environmental groups trying to improve water quality  They're women's and LGTQ health groups fighting for access to healthcare  So remember that anytime there are proposed changes in the laws for lobbying disclosure - the selling point is often the mustache twirling oil corporations and financial institutions... but these laws impact progressive champions too.     Overview of the FLDA  The FLDA requires individuals and organizations that lobby various federal officials, to register and report their lobbying activities once they meet designated thresholds.   Important thing 1: this is a totally different law than the tax code  Important thing 2: most nonprofits don't trigger the thresholds  Important thing 3: this generally only covers direct lobbying of federal officials, so no state lobbying and no grassroots lobbying of any kind goes into the analysis. If you don't directly lobby members of the federal government, keep listening and enjoy our witty banter, but don't worry about having to register and report under this law.     Registration thresholds  An employee will make more than one lobbying contact on behalf of the organization;  An employee will spend more than 20% of their time on lobbying over any calendar three-month period; and  The organization will spend more than $14,000 on lobbying in a calendar quarter.  All three of these criteria must be met before the organization is required to register. For example, if an organization has an employee who makes multiple lobbying contacts and spends more than 20% of her time on lobbying between January and March, but the organization only spends $10,000 over that same period, the organization will not need to register.     Lobbying contacts - what counts toward that 20% and $14k?  Drafting/amending/writing/introducing any federal law (email, calls, meeting, tweets, etc)  Preparation for direct lobbying contacts such as strategizing on legislation that you are engaging on or monitoring legislation that you are activley engaging on.   But just routine monitoring of legislation w/o a plan to engage does not count toward to 20%  Nominations before the US Senate  Same thing for federal regulations (but let's put a pin in that for you 501(c)(3)s!)   Administration of federal programs (awards, contracts, grants, loans, permits, etc.) (same pin for (c)(3)s!)    What counts as a lobbying expenditure?  In-house employee compensation spent on direct lobbying of federal covered officials  Portion of organization overhead attributed to federal lobbying  Payments to outside lobbying firms for federal lobbying   Part of membership dues that goes to federal lobbying    What doesn't count for anyone?  Grassroots lobbying* (pin in this)  Testimony before Congress that is in the public record  Comments on regulations that's part of ordinary notice and comment procedures       What about that pin for (c)(3)s?  You'll notice for you 501(h) electors that the definitions of lobbying don't really match... under the FLDA there's registration and reporting requirements for advocacy before executive branch and military officials that don't count under the IRS rules.  Special rule! If you're a 501(h) elector you can use the 501(h) rules you know and love... that means you don't have to count military or executive branch contacts unless they'd otherwise count under 501(h). And that's a pretty high bar... remember it counts only if the executive branch official is "participating in the formulation" of a bill. So no regs count and really only super-high ranking officials are part of the discussion... POTUS when signing/vetoing, cabinet level officials who are writing bills that impact their portfolio. That's about it.  If you opt to use the (h) election for the FDLA, then you also have to report your state and local lobbying and grassroots lobbying.     I'm a 501(c)(4)... can we use that exception too?   NO. You have to use the broader definitions under the FLDA! This means counting your lobbying contacts with executive, administrative and military branch officials.     Lobbying Activities - are we hitting that 20%/14k threshold?  The $14,000 threshold is organization-wide  The 20% threshold is for each individual. But only direct lobbying counts toward the 20%  What counts? Lobbying plus prep time/work for lobbying  That's a pretty high bar... 1 in 5 working hours in a calendar quarter have to be lobbying in order to need to register/report  once you register, you report every quarter until you no longer work at the organization (delisting is a bit of a thing)  Strategy: if it's an unusual time for federal lobbying outreach and you don't foresee hitting the thresholds in the future, consider spreading the load out amongst staff. If this is a one-time effort, you won't have to file quarterly with zeros in the fields until the end of time!     How do we register and report?  All electronic! LD-1 to register within 45 days of first hitting the thresholds  LD-2 and LD-203 for quarterly and semi-annual reports.   The quarterly reports are all about those lobbying contact details  Semi-annual reports - registered lobbyists are required to disclose a lot about which candidates they individually donate to.   We won’t go too much into this – the House and Senate LDA sites have reasonably decent instructions.   Trivia: you report your lobbying to the nearest $10k – so it’s not a super precise report!     Anything else we need to know?  The threshold dollar amount is increased every 4 years... we just had the latest increase in January so don't look for a new one until 2025.  Some portions of HR1/S1 include lowering the thresholds but it's not clear if this will pass as is. Stay tuned.     Resources  https://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov  https://bolderadvocacy.org/2021/04/16/federal-lobbying-disclosure-act-registration-threshold-increased/  https://bolderadvocacy.org/resource/understanding-the-lobbying-disclosure-act-2/  https://bolderadvocacy.org/resource/lobbying-disclosure-act-thresholds/

On this episode, we’ll discuss how state law may impact your nonprofit’s efforts to impact public policy and lobby for legislation. In past episodes, we’ve focused largely on the tax code: how it permits lobbying for nonprofits and how nonprofits can measure their lobbying limits. But today, we will examine how state-level sunshine laws may require you (or your nonprofit) to register and report as a lobbyist or to report your ballot measure advocacy activities.  

Our Attorneys:

Natalie 

Quyen 

Leslie 

Registering as a lobbyist

How these laws work in practice

• TX
• CA
• Other states

Ballot Initiatives Sometimes Have to Register Like PACs 

Resources 

 All our state law resources are found here on this page:  https://bolderadvocacy.org/subject/state-law-resources/ 

 CA Ballot Measures 

California Campaign Finance and Ballot Measure Guide  

Ballot Measure Activities Exempt from California Disclosure Laws 

Supporting or Opposing Ballot Measures in California: What Do You Need to Disclose? 

 From the Fair Political Practices Commission: 

Campaign Disclosure Manual 3: Information for Ballot Measure Committees 

 CA Lobbying Disclosures 

Shaping the Future: A Compliance Guide for Nonprofits Influencing Public Policy in California 

California Lobbying Disclosure Thresholds When an Organization Needs to File 

California City, County, School and Special District Local Lobbying Ordinances 

 From the Fair Political Practices Commission: 

Lobbying Disclosure Manual: Information for Lobbyists, Lobbyist Employers, & Lobbying Firms 

 TX 

Texas Advocacy Toolkit  

Texas Campaign Finance and Ballot Measure Guide 

On this episode, we’ll be talking about nonprofit advocacy to ensure all eligible people can exercise their right to vote and the fight against new legislation—with a decidedly partisan aroma—that aims to restrict those rights.  

 

Attorney Co-hosts   

Tim 

Quyen  

Ronnie 

 

Record turnout in November 

Americans voted in record numbers in last year’s presidential election, casting over 158 million ballots.  

More than six-in-ten people of voting age and nearly two-thirds of estimated eligible voters,  

Source: Pew Research Center  

 

False claims of voter fraud 

Brennan Center: “Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research reveals that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic.” 

 

The fallacy of the "election integrity" movement 

False claims of election problems in 2020 

Led directly to the Capitol Insurrection in 2021 

No proof to any of the claims (over 50 lawsuits, all dismissed on the substance) 

New arguments: people think the election was fraudulent, so laws need to change to reflect that 

 

Efforts to oppose the bills across the country  

Georgia 

On March 25, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed in to law a bill that will make it more difficult for voters to make their voices heard at the polls.  The  legislation contains several troubling provisions, including those that limit the amount of time available to voters to request absentee ballots, impose strict new ID requirements for some voters, and effectively ban the use of mobile voting centers. The signing of the law prompted swift legal challenges and opposition from corporate interests. (Source: Bolder Advocacy) 

 

Texas 

Senate Bill 7, which would limit extended early voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting and make it illegal for local election officials to proactively send applications to vote by mail to voters, even if they qualify. (Source: Texas Tribune) 

 

Federal legislation being considered to combat this?  

 

Litigation challenging the laws. 

 

What we can do 

• Offer Public Testimony (rules: may be lobbying) 
• Write an Op-Ed: (rules: unlikely to be lobbying unless it has call to action) 
• Engage in Corporate Advocacy (rules: may be lobbying – it depends) 
• Team Up (rules: coalitions, may be lobbying)  
• None of this is prohibited election intervention (all (c)(3)-friendly but take care with how your efforts are characterized) 

 

Resources 

When voting rights are under attack, what should nonprofits do? by Natalie Ossenfort 

The States Where Efforts To Restrict Voting Are Escalating, fivethirtyeight 

How GOP-backed voting measures could create hurdles for tens of millions of voters, Washington Post 

Voting Laws Roundup, Brennan Center 

State Voting Bills Tracker 2021, Brennan Center 

Being a Player – lobbying rules 

The Connection – coalition rules 

Coalition Checklist – coalition rules 

The proliferation of hate speech has fanned the flames of anti-Asian sentiment with messages associating China with the COVID-19 pandemic, all while downplaying the real and present threat of domestic terrorism fueled by white nationalism. And as we have seen over and over, speech has consequences with blood on the hands of murderers — not only in recent shootings but for the consistent escalation of violence against Asian Americans and others. 

A disturbing combination of widespread prejudicial sentiment and easy access to guns makes tragedies like this far too common. Messages of misogyny, xenophobia, and white supremacy fill the air we breathe, masquerading as conservative sentiment as they infect the minds of those who could be spurred to act violently. In recent years, we have seen targeted attacks against people of color, religious minorities, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable populations, and we have failed to address the patterns of who commits these atrocities and what inspires and allows them to do so. 

On this episode, we’ll be talking about nonprofit advocacy against hate, bigotry, and discrimination.   

 

Attorney Co-hosts  

Jen 

Quyen 

Shyaam 

 

Introduction 

• Nonprofits have an essential role to play in fighting hate in all its forms, by educating the public, pressuring elected officials and candidates, and organizing community members to raise awareness about identity-based violence and discrimination. We’re going to highlight a few nonprofit advocacy efforts today, and talk about how you can stand up to hate as a nonprofit organization.  

• We have to acknowledge what’s happening now and our collective past history  

• Attacks against people based on their race or ethnicity 

• Rise in hate incidents and hate crimes against APA community because of Trump’s insistence on blaming China for the coronavirus 

• Between March 2020 and Feb 2021, almost 3,800 incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate. Fraction of the real number. 

• Attacks against Middle Eastern, Arab, or Muslim Americans after 9/11 

• LGBTQIA+, violence against trans-people 

• We want to be clear that we know there’s so many ways hate is spreading right now, but we chose to lift up a few examples to affirm for public charities that Combating Hate is always on mission.   

• This episode isn’t heavy on rules.  If you’ve been listening, you know that public charities can’t be partisan and that to determine partisanship, the IRS will apply the facts and circumstances test to campaigns and communications.   For 501(c)(3) organizations, the important analysis will be to understand an organization’s risk and the continuity of its messages.  

Example 1: Briefly Review the Facts and Circumstances Test for Public Charities. What about anti-hate messaging when connected to voting – e.g., vote for love not hate! 

 

• The IRS will apply a facts and circumstances test and while we don’t know everything the IRS would look at, here’s examples of how we would walk through the analysis. 

•  Does the communication or ad or website reference a candidate or election? (that’s a no-no) 

•  Is there some other external factor influencing the campaign like a bill up at the state house?  

• Is this part of the on-going mission of the public charity? And is this messaging similar to or in connection with other forms of communications on the topic (i.e., part of an on-going long-standing campaign). 

• If it’s a wedge issue, or looks like a campaign slogan, a nonprofit public charity should proceed with caution.   

 Example 2: NAKASEC.  The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium has an affiliated—or connected—501(c)(4) known as the NAKASEC Action Fund.  In 2020, NAKASEC AF wanted to forcefully push back against a Virginia Congressional Candidate selling a mask that suggested the coronavirus was “Made in China.”  This phrase was on the mask. They ended up releasing statements and a letter, and organized with partners. They explained that blaming China for the COVID-19 crisis has led to a sharp increase in racially motivated attacks against people of Chinese descent and others perceived to be of Chinese descent. In fact, in March of 2020, the FBI warned that hate crimes against Asian Americans were likely to rise because of perceptions that people of Asian descent were spreading the virus. Their advocacy was picked up by major media outlets. You can find stories on NAKASEC AF’s advocacy against these masks in the Washington Post, Fox News, NBC News, and numerous local outlets in Virginia. After a few days with public pressure, the candidate pulled the masks! 

• As far as the rules go, 501(c)(3)s may not support or oppose candidates for public office, but c4s can, to a limited extent. there is room to even suggest candidates should be held accountable for actions like these in the election.  

• Anti-hate is always on mission. Even though a 501(c)(4) took the action above, through our analysis, we think a 501(c)(3) likely could have as well.   

• Example 3: Ahmaud Arbery “Finish the Run” event. Runner’s World is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit but utilized its platform to call in various ways to run against hate.  It even created a separate foundation to Finish the Run.   https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a35521521/ahmaud-arbery-virtual-run-finish-the-run  

• This is a great example of using your platform to fight discrimination even when the core of your mission is based on something else (here supporting and promoting running).  

•  Example 4: Muslim Advocates. Muslim Advocates is a 501(c)(3) often calls out elected officials and other leaders for bigoted language against Muslims - for example, inventing threats posed by Muslims to the country, misinformation about what Islam requires of followers, or advocating for policies that would be a violation of basic constitutional rights of Muslims. Muslim Advocates has even done a report on campaigns in the past that have featured anti-Muslim rhetoric.   

• There are a number of important points about these efforts, even though some were around elections. Where MA spotlighted or went into detail - it was around campaigns in elections that had already passed. They included disclaimers in their report, and they tried to summarize and describe the nature of comments rather than advocate for the election or defeat of any particular candidate or candidates. If you're talking about campaigns and elections that have already passed, it’s important to not take credit for an outcome. It’s going to be risky to discuss campaigns still pending or upcoming elections – however, you could discuss comments in the aggregate.  

• It’s still possible to be forceful, clear, and strong against hate as a 501(c)(3). 

 

 

Bolder Advocacy Resources 

 

Commenting on Candidates and Campaigns: https://www.bolderadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Commenting_on_Candidates_and_Campaigns.pdf  

Commenting on Candidates’ Statements about Immigrants: https://www.bolderadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Commenting-on-Candidates-Statements-about-Immigrants.pdf 

LGBTQ Toolkit: https://bolderadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/LGBTQ-toolkit-2019-Final.pdf  

Press Statement on Atlanta Attacks:  https://www.afj.org/article/afj-condemns-hateful-attack-on-asian-americans/ 

 

 

Other resources: 

Department of Justice: https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes, has link to state specific information 

LCCR Stop Hate: https://lawyerscommittee.org/project/stop-hate-project/  

Stop AAPI Hate: https://stopaapihate.org/ 

Muslim Advocates: https://muslimadvocates.org/advocacy/addressing-anti-muslim-political-rhetoric/ 

NAKASEC Action Fund’s letter: https://nakasecactionfund.org/11546 

Bob Jones University v. United States:  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/461/574 

On this episode, we’ll be talking about that special once a decade process of redistricting.   

 

Because this is the sixth episode in our lobbying series, we’re describing this as your midterm test, applying our lobbying and advocacy 101 podcasts to a particular policy proposal: redistricting.   

 

Attorney Co-hosts  

Jen 

Tim  

Quyen 

  

A brief civics lesson about redistricting—the process by which the states draw lines on a map to create electoral districts.   

• The census is constitutionally required in part because our federal house of representatives originally kept growing to proportionally represent an entire state’s population. 
• Fun facts: Because the house of representatives kept growing as our country grew, Congress adopted a “cap” of 435 house members under the Apportionment Act of 1911. That cap is still alive today. 
• For redistricting at the federal level then, every census requires we count each individual.  Then the Congress apportions the 435 seats to the states based on the population changes.  In other words, Congress gets to reassign some seats to states with big populations so that they get a “larger voice” in the house of representatives. 

• Once apportioned, the last step is that a state process occurs and lines on a map are drawn to determine the districts for those federal elected officials as well as state and local elected seats. 

 

Since we’re dealing with Covid still, the timelines for this process have been pushed.  There’s plenty of time for you to get involved and make your voice heard.  

 

Are all states the same?  

• Of course not!  Because states are permitted to draw the lines, every state has a unique approach with some states allowing the state legislature to vote on the map while others provide a bi-partisan or other type of citizen driven commission.   

Redistricting rules of the road 

 

While it would be fun to discuss the laws and legal standards about how to draw a district –things like ensuring roughly an equal number of voters in each district, and that districts do not unfairly pack certain voters into one space while cracking geographic or other affinity groups into multiple districts.  This podcast is about what you—as a public charity or a private foundation—can do in your state around this process.  

 

• So what does that mean:  it means lobbying for equality and justice in states where the legislature must approve the maps. 
• It can also mean plain old advocacy in states where there is a commission adopted to deal with this process.  

 

For example, in California, there’s a commission that draws the maps and it is made up only of citizens that apply and go through a rather lengthy process.   

 

• This means advocacy to the commission is not lobbying.   
• Since the commission is formed though, so long as it has the final authority to finalize the map of the districts, then any work contacting the commissioners, appearing before the commission, even drawing your own map and providing it to the commissioners will not be considered lobbying. 
• Since every state does this process a little different, check out our links below that will take you directly to how your state conducts this process.   

 

In contrast, in Texas, as in most states, redistricting still requires the state legislatures to adopt the maps.  For a public charity, this means working with legislators on redistricting is lobbying.   

 

• As a public charity, you can always lobby on items that your legislature has to vote on and maps drawn by the legislators for how you elect your representatives is no different. 
• Your lobbying can include items that address the historical discriminatory patterns related to race, but also items that make your community unique.  Some items that can generally be looked at include: 

• Income levels 
• Housing patterns (suburban, rural etc) 

• Language or cultural identification  
• Environmental conditions 

• Another great example for lobbying is to know the model!  For example, in Texas, members of the public will have access to the same program (RedAppl) to draw alternative maps for legislators’ consideration but unless your organization understands how the program works—what assumptions it makes about various factors related to population (age, race, sex etc), you won’t really have a good idea of how those maps are dividing up communities.   

 

But as a public charity, in either states that use the legislative process or those with citizen appointed or other forms of commission, a public charity cannot engage in partisan politics.  

• Items that a nonprofit public charity could not lobby on include things like “saving a seat” or “flipping the district.” 
• Why?  Well, that is partisan work—the same lobbying rules apply to redistricting maps and methods as apply to your work on getting a new bill passed.  Stay on policy, and avoid mentioning candidates, races, or elections.  

  

What about private foundations funding this work? 

 

• We plan to do a whole series on how to fund effective work.  But for this episode, its important to know that private foundations can fund organizations that do advocacy and those that do lobbying as well. 
• Private foundations cannot earmark grants for lobbying and there are some rules for private foundations to ensure they are not using their own dollars to lobby indirectly in ways that they are not permitted to do directly.   
• But beyond that, the philanthropic world should be concerned with redistricting not only at the federal level for the House of Representatives, but at the state level for city council districts, state districts etc. 

 

What?!  The state gets to draw new lines for its own house of representatives too? 

 

• That’s right:  redistricting isn’t just for the federal house of representatives.  As states grow in population, states have to redraw their own lines, and even some cities do the same thing.  This is in part to abide by the principle of one person one vote, but also because our communities constantly change shape and size.   

 

This is why its so important for nonprofits to ensure their community knows this process is happening.   

 

Bolder Advocacy Resources  

• Mapping the Future: the Redistricting Process for Private Foundations 
• Influencing the Redistricting Process By Standing Up for Your Community 
• Influencing Redistricting in California 

Other resources: 

https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/redistricting-systems-a-50-state-overview.aspx 

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R45951.html (2009) 

https://funderscommittee.org/files/Collaborative_RedistrictingGuide_2.pdf (2010) 

https://redistricting.lls.edu/ - PROF. JUSTIN LEVITT'S GUIDE TO DRAWING THE ELECTORAL LINES 

Timeline for Releasing Redistricting Data for updates from the US Census Bureau on the timeline 

Lobbying Series Part 5 – Recordkeeping 

On this episode, our fifth in our on-going lobbying series, we’ll focus on how 501(c)(3) public charities can keep good records of their lobbying and why it is important. 

Attorney Co-hosts 

• Quyen Tu 
• Tim Mooney 
• Natalie Ossenfort 

Quick reminders: Check out the prior four episodes in our lobbying series on basics, definitions, and exceptions. 

Recordkeeping! The IRS must have a thousand rules! 

• Would it surprise you that the answer is not really? 
• IRS has a “reasonableness” standard 
• If you are audited you are expected to be able to show your math on what you reported on your Form 990. 

 Why keep good records of your lobbying? 

1. Charities must report their lobbying to the IRS every year.
2. Exceeding lobbying limits leads to excise taxes and (eventually) jeopardizes tax-exempt status.
3. Recordkeeping lets electing charities do more lobbying without fear.
4. Recordkeeping helps a charity raise funds more effectively.
5. Good recordkeeping is protection against false accusations.
6. Recordkeeping is a good management tool. 

         

 What do you track? 

• Direct Costs 
  • Travel 
  • Printing costs 
  • Anything with a receipt that is all or mostly for lobbying 
  • Primary purpose is lobbying? Count it all. Less than half? Split proportionately. 

   

• Staff Time 
  • Best option: Timesheets 
  • Occasional lobbying: Lobbying “incident” report 
  • One-shot lobbying: Memo to file 

   

• Overhead costs 
  • Easiest with time sheets 
  • Add up total hours worked and total hours spent on direct lobbying 
  • Apply the percentage to all overhead (rent, utilities, internet access, support staff, etc.) 
  • Repeat for grassroots lobbying 

   

Junk drawer of final thoughts 

• Do not adopt a system just because it is used by another organization – use the one that is most reasonable for your organization. 
• Remember there are state and local reporting requirements too – make sure those are integrated into your system. 
• Timesheets have much more utility beyond tracking lobbying – consider that when making your decision on a system. 

 

Resources

Keeping Track: A Guide to Recordkeeping for Advocacy Charities 

Being a Player: A Guide to the IRS Lobbying Regulations for Advocacy Charities 

Sample Timesheets 

• Simpler Timesheet 
• Simplest Timesheet 
• Complex Timesheet 
• Simple Timesheet for Affiliated Organizations 
• Complex Timesheet for Affiliated Organizations 
• Timesheet with Lobbying Disclosure Tracking