Nonprofit Speech Rights

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Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Hearing on Tax Policy to Help Katrina Rebuilding

Oct 5, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Future of the Gulf Coast: Using Tax Policy to Help Rebuild Businesses and Communities and Support Families after Disasters October 6, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., in SD215 Dirksen Senate Office Building Panelists Include: The Honorable John W. Snow, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC The Honorable Jack Kemp, Founder and Chairman, Kemp Partners, Washington, DC and Honorary Co-Chairman, Free Enterprise Fund, Washington, DC The Honorable Tate Reeves, State Treasurer, State of Mississippi, Jackson, MS

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OMB Watch Comments on FEC's Review of its Electioneering Communications Exemption for 501(c)(3)s

OMB Watch filed comments to the FEC on September 30, 2005 asking the agency to continue protecting the right of nonpartisan organizations to broadcast grassroots lobbying and educational messages that refer to federal office holders during the 60 day period before an election or 30 days before a primary. See the full text of the comments.

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Goverment Cracks Down on Fake Katrina Charities

Oct 5, 2005 by Guest Blogger

From the Washington Post Concerned that the Gulf Coast hurricanes are spawning an unprecedented number of bogus appeals to help victims, law enforcement officials and charities have launched aggressive efforts to prosecute fraud. State and federal officials have filed charges in at lease four cases involving fraudulent appeals. They expect that number to rise sharply in the coming weeks as investigators examine thousands of suspicious fundraising Web sites, "phishing" schemes that steal financial information from donors and people falsely claiming to be raising money for hurricane funds.

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New Study Shows Importance of Louisana Nonprofits

Oct 5, 2005 by Guest Blogger

According to a new study by the Urban Institute, nonprofits in Louisiana and New Orleans, many of which were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, play a critical role in providing health and human services to residents. "The Aftermath of Katrina: State of the Nonprofit Sector in Louisiana" analyzes the state of nonprofits in Louisiana. Louisiana is home to about 3,200 charities, which spend a total of $8.7 billion each year and report combined assets of $13.8 billion.

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CARE Act Re-Introduced in the Senate and House

On September 27, Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) introduced S. 1780, the Charity, Aid, Recovery and Empowerment Act (CARE). The legislation includes charitable giving incentives such as tax-free charitable contributions from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), and partial deductions of charitable contributions for taxpayers who do not itemize their tax returns. In an attempt to neutralize the charitable reform package expected to come from the Senate Finance Committee, Santorum also included accountability provisions designed to improve oversight of charities.

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Supreme Court, FEC Take on Regulation of Issue Advocacy

On Sept. 27, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal from the Wisconsin Right to Life Committee (WRTL) that challenges the constitutionality of federal campaign finance restrictions as applied to genuine grassroots lobbying communications. Oral argument in the case is expected in early 2006. Meanwhile, more than 100 nonprofits submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on its reconsideration of an exemption from its "electioneering communications" rule for groups that are exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code.

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Nonprofit Anti-Advocacy Language Proposed for Housing Bill

Supporters of H.R.1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005, are optimistic it will go to the House floor soon, without nonprofit anti-advocacy language proposed by a group of conservative Republicans. The language would have disqualified any nonprofit that lobbies or carries on other advocacy activities from applying for grants under a proposed new affordable housing program.

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Early Reports of FEMA Reimbursement Policy Misleading

Early reports about the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursements to faith-based groups for their hurricane relief services were misleading and lacked essential details. At a press conference last week, FEMA announced that it will reimburse churches and faith-based groups; however, this is simply an extension of its Public Assistance Program that currently provides funding to private nonprofit groups that have provided food, shelter and supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina at the agency's request. A Sept. 27 Washington Post story gave the impression that only faith-based groups would receive such reimbursements, prompting some protest.

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Social Justice Grantmaking Rises, Shifts Toward Pragmatism

A significant proportion of grantmakers who fund public policy, advocacy, and other social-change activities are increasingly moving away from supporting grassroots advocacy and movement-building. Instead, these funders are choosing more "neutral, technocratic, and results-oriented" approaches to social change, like research, policy analysis, and outreach to decision-makers.

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Tell Leadership To Hold The Line and Bring the GSE Bill to the Floor!

The Republican Study Committee is pushing to disqualify any nonprofit that lobbies or carries on other advocacy activities from applying for grants under a proposed new affordable housing program. This is another incident in a long string of attempts to silence nonprofits by introducing new restrictions for separate programs. A similar attempt to limit advocacy by disability groups was defeated in 2003 when thousands of nonprofits raised objections.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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