On June 1, 2007 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Rev. Rul. 2007-41 which provides guidance to help charities and religious organizations avoid violating the prohibition on partisan intervention for or against candidates in elections. The ruling includes 21 examples and explanations charities and religious organizations can rely on in planning their get out the vote, voter education and mobilization activities. It is helpful step toward providing clearer definitions of allowable and unallowable activities, but does not establish any safe harbors or bright line rules. This summary and analysis highlights the key points the IRS makes about the law and six categories of activities: voter education, registration and participation efforts, activities of individuals, candidate appearances, issue advocacy, renting facilities, mailing lists and other business activities, and web sites.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a summary of its 2006 program enforcing the ban on partisan electioneering by charities and religious organizations on June 1, 2007. While only 40 of the 100 cases selected for examination have been closed, the report provides a useful picture of the Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI), as well as updated information on the IRS' 2004 enforcement cases. The 2006 report also details a new program that matches state campaign finance reports to the IRS database of 501(c)(3) organizations. On the same day the IRS published guidance in Revenue Ruling 2007-41 on what is considered prohibited intervention in elections. Overall, the results indicate a low level of violations by 501(c)(3) organizations.