The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) postponed implementation of its “do not fax rule” for 16 months thanks to the many concerns voiced by nonprofit organizations and business groups. The rule was scheduled to take effect on Aug. 25, and will now take effect on January 1, 2005, according to a FCC news release. The do-not-fax rule, which was adopted late June, requires companies and organizations to get written permission before sending unsolicited faxes that include information on financial transactions. This could include conference registration forms or membership-dues notices.

Has your organization experienced similar incidents as those outlined in this paper? If so, please share your experience via e-mail with our Nonprofit Advocacy staff. July 2003 Executive Summary prepared by Gary D. Bass, Kay Guinane and Ryan Turner, with assistance from Tim Visser, an OMB Watch intern, who did research on the impact of the Patriot Act on nonprofits. This document is also available in MS Word and PDF format. The full paper is available online, or may be downloaded in either MS Word or PDF format.

OMB Watch released a paper today, An Attack on Nonprofit Speech: Death by a Thousand Cuts, that provides a summary of how the Bush administration and conservative allies have effectively moved to control nonprofit speech. Instead of a single legislative or regulatory proposal that would limit nonprofit speech, the article notes, the Bush administration and conservative allies have proposed or begun implementing a number of proposals that are akin to a “death by a thousand cuts.” These “cuts” have suddenly accelerated in the last year.