Nonprofit Nonpartisanship Update Archive
6/12/18 UPDATE: Contact Congressman Evan Jenkins TODAY to Keep Nonprofits Nonpartisan
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee will take up a bill with the harmful anti-Johnson Amendment rider. Section 112 of the Financial Services and General Government FY2019 spending bill would effectively block enforcement of the Johnson Amendment against “churches” and their auxiliaries – even when they engage in egregious, partisan activities. This is the same extraneous rider that was attached to the Financial Services bill last year and that was one of the very last items negotiated out of the Omnibus Spending bill enacted in March. In late May, the Vice President reiterated the Administration’s intent to repeal the Johnson Amendment; they aren’t giving up so we can’t either.
TAKE ACTION
Call and tweet Congressman Evan Jenkins (a member of the Appropriations Committee) and tell him:
“Partisanship has NO place in charitable organizations – whether houses of worship, charitable nonprofits, or private foundations. Vote to remove Section 112 from the FSGG bill.”
And make sure to pass this message on to your colleagues, especially those in WV’s 3rd Congressional District!
The National Council of Nonprofits’ new Take Action webpage provides links, phone numbers, and twitter handles for each of the House Appropriations Committee members. You can also visit www.GiveVoice.org for more information.
5/29/18 UPDATE: Efforts to Politicize Nonprofits Expand
Barely two months after Congress rejected efforts to weaken the longstanding provision of tax law that keeps partisan electioneering out of charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations, politicians seeking to politicize these organizations are at it again. An extraneous rider attached to the House Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill for fiscal year 2019 would impose insurmountable barriers to enforcement of the Johnson Amendment against “churches” that commit even the most egregious violations of law by, among other things, diverting charitable donations to candidate coffers and endorsing candidates for public office. The bill was approved by a subcommittee and now moves to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration next month.
TAKE ACTION: Call your Members of Congress and tell them, “The vast nonprofit community strongly supports the Johnson Amendment, the longstanding law that protects charitable organizations, houses of worship, and foundations from caustic, partisan politics. I expect you to oppose the FSGG Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations bill rider at Section 112 that would repeal or weaken the Johnson Amendment. Nonprofits are counting on the [Representative/Senator] to preserve nonprofit nonpartisanship.”
- How to Make the Call: Simply call the Capitol switchboard (202-225-3121) and follow the automated instructions to reach the offices of your Representative and Senators. NOTE: Studies show that phone calls to congressional offices are the most effective means of constituent advocacy – so make the calls first and then encourage others to call, too.
3/22/18 UPDATE: Johnson Amendment Left Unharmed, for Now
Wednesday night, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released the text of the omnibus spending bill, officially titled the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, designed to fund the federal government through the current fiscal year 2018 that ends on September 30. The 2,232-page bill contains numerous extraneous policy riders, but lawmakers did not include a provision to repeal or weaken the longstanding Johnson Amendment, the law that protects charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations from partisan politics.
Thanks to strong, united self-defense lobbying by charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations from all 50 states and DC, the omnibus spending bill does not include language sought by powerful politicians and well-funded special interests to dismantle the Johnson Amendment that for 60+ years has protected 501(c)(3) organizations from the perils of divisive partisan politicking. The anti-Johnson Amendment forces tried to attach a policy rider to the spending bill that would have politicized charitable, religious, and philanthropic organizations. Their aggressive campaign, however, was blocked by people across America who knew how devastating it would be to undermine nonprofit nonpartisanship.
In a news release, National Council of Nonprofits President and CEO Tim Delaney stated: “Keeping intact the longstanding law known as the Johnson Amendment is at least a short-term victory for 501(c)(3) organizations and the American people.” He acknowledged, “It would be nice to celebrate a long and hard-fought victory, but we cannot afford to relax,” reminding all that last year “prominent politicians and well-funded lobbyists tried to gut the Johnson Amendment through an executive order and five separate bills.” The statement continued by observing, “[t]heir zeal last year suggests they likely will continue their push to hijack charitable goodwill for their own political ambitions while rewarding their supporters with charitable tax deductions for partisan donations.” If so, all who care about the missions and effectiveness of charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations will once again need to “rise in force to defend this vital, longstanding protection.”
The 501(c)(3) community must remain vigilant because anti-Johnson Amendment language could resurface yet again in this spending bill (especially if there are delays in passage that open the door for further negotiations — as discussed below), in the fiscal year 2019 appropriations process this summer, or in other bills. If youhaven’t signed your organization onto the Community Letter in Support of Nonpartisanship, we encourage you to join the nearly 5,800 charitable, religious, and philanthropic organizations in expressing strong support for maintaining the Johnson Amendment. See who has signed
3/16/18 UPDATE: The Threat to the Johnson Amendment Confirmed
The Capitol Hill newspaper POLITICO is reporting that an anti-Johnson Amendment rider is one of the last contentious policy issues still on the table in the congressional negotiations over an omnibus spending bill that must be enacted in the coming days to avoid a federal government shutdown. It is imperative that all people who cherish nonprofit nonpartisanship tell our Senators and Representatives to prevent any extraneous rider from being attached to the fiscal year 2018 spending bill. We’re asking nonprofit employees, board members, other volunteers, donors, and other supporters to reread the action alert (below) that we sent out earlier this month and take immediate action to protect the longstanding Johnson Amendment. The effectiveness and impact of our whole nonprofit community is at stake.
WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT
“Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation calculated that, by weakening the Johnson Amendment, the U.S. Treasury would lose $2.1 billion…[because] partisans would be incentivized to funnel their political contributions through houses of worship and charitable nonprofits.” – Tim Delaney, President & CEO, National Council of Nonprofits
“Imagine boardroom conversations being dedicated to politicking instead of advancing the mission, or donors delaying a gift until the org publicly endorses their candidate of choice, plunging nonprofits directly into the political divide.” – Lisa Maruyama, President & CEO, Hawai`i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations
TAKE ACTION
Call your senators and representatives, send tweets, and sign and promote the Community Letter in Support of Nonpartisanship.
3/5/18, Tell Congress to Keep Nonprofits Nonpartisan While Writing the Omnibus Spending Bill
Early this month, Members of Congress are writing a bill to fund the government through the rest of the current fiscal year. This “omnibus spending bill” could be the last significant piece of legislation that works its way through Congress before the elections in November. For that reason, the bill is attracting scores of other issues – like the anti-Johnson Amendment language – that likely would not pass as free-standing bills.
The Johnson Amendment is the longstanding law that protects 501(c)(3) organizations from demands from candidates for public office for endorsements and other partisan activities. Credited with enabling charitable, religious, and philanthropic organizations to be effective, nonpartisan problem solvers in their communities for more than 60 years, the Johnson Amendment must be preserved. Learn the quick and easy actions you can take to encourage Congress to protect nonprofit nonpartisanship and preserve the Johnson Amendment.
TAKE ACTION: Nonprofits all over the country are being asked to engage in support of nonprofit nonpartisanship by making calls, sending tweets, signing and promoting the Community Letter in Support of Nonpartisanship. Join the Twitter Panel on Tuesday, March 6 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm to campaign against any additional riders in the Appropriations bill – CitizensUnited 2.0.
12/11/17, Congratulations! You Helped Make it Happen!
Late last night, we heard from the National Council of Nonprofits that the anti-Johnson Amendment language has been officially stripped from the tax bill on the grounds that it violates the Byrd Rule! (Republicans are using a process known as reconciliation to pass the tax bill, which only requires a simple majority in both chambers, but it also comes with constraints, namely the Byrd rule, named for the late West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd, which prevents reconciliation bills from containing provisions that aren’t primarily fiscal in nature on a simple-majority vote.)
The victory on the Johnson Amendment in the tax bill is official, as seen in the National Council of Nonprofits’ news release and in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Nonprofit Quarterly.
It’s a victory for now, but the fight may not be over. We must be vigilant as, no doubt, attempts will be made to slip policy riders into the next appropriations bill.
12/11/17 Update
Although an “agreement in principal” for the tax bill was announced yesterday, the details are still being negotiated. Conference committee members are trying to avoid unnecessary provisions that would make the tax plan more unpopular. The nonprofit community needs to emphasize quickly that Section 5201 of the House tax plan is STRONGLY OPPOSED by the general public, nonprofits, and houses of worship.
CALL TO ACTION: Please immediately call our two U.S. Senators, Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, and your representatives at 202-225-3121. Tell them that you’re a constituent and your nonprofit organizations and houses of worship do NOT want to become political – remove the dangerous and unpopular Section 5201 of the House tax bill from the final tax cut bill. Then call your U.S. Representatives at the same phone number and say the same.
“I’m a constituent and I’m calling in opposition to a very harmful provision in the tax bill that would weaken the Johnson Amendment and politicize charitable nonprofits and houses of worship, and foundations. The harmful provision is Section 5201 of the House-passed tax bill that is now in a conference committee with the Senate. It is imperative that the Senator/Representative reach out to every member of the conference committee and tell them the Johnson Amendment language in the House bill must be stripped from the final bill. Thank you.”
12/11/17 Update
Our primary focus is to strip out the anti-Johnson Amendment language (Section 5201) from the House-passed version of the tax reform bill as the conferees meet this week.
Last week, the National Council of Nonprofits sent letters to the four congressional campaign committees – House and Senate, Democratic and Republican – alerting them to the problem for them if donors divert their funds to the newly politicized 501(c)(3) organizations.
An Action Alert from the Idaho Nonprofit Center ‘What If’s’ cuts through the rhetoric and lays out real-world examples of what’s wrong with changing the Johnson Amendment.
What If?
Imagine attending a nonprofit fundraising Gala and the featured keynote speaker is delivering a campaign speech. What if it isn’t a candidate that you support? What if that candidate is only speaking because the organization was “strong-armed” into allowing it? How will your perception of that nonprofit change based on the circumstances that made it possible for that candidate to garner that organization’s support?
What if you are attending a religious service and the clergy member leading it uses the time to stump for his own favorite candidate for office? Will you feel that your faith has been strengthened? How about when you get that monthly e-newsletter, and there’s a photo of your favorite religious or nonprofit leader shaking hands with a candidate you do not feel is fit for office? Would you question whether or not your investment of time and money in that nonprofit were truly being used to fulfill its mission?
Last week, the National Council of Nonprofits joined with the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector in sending a joint letter to all conferees (and all Members of Congress) urging them to leave the Johnson Amendment alone. The three organizations also placed an ad in Roll Call to emphasize this same point.
ACTION ITEM: Do you have contacts at the state Democratic and Republican committees? If so, consider forwarding them the letter from the National Council of Nonprofits and stressing that Section 5201 of the House-passed bill creates the same problem for them as for their federal counterparts. Read the letter and the news release for full details.
11/29/17 – VIEW the 11/27/17 National Webinar on Tax Reform and Charitable Nonprofits
The majority in House and Senate are racing to enact comprehensive tax reform in time to place a bill on the President’s desk by Christmas. The House passed its own bill on November 16 and the Senate plans to pass its version by December 1, giving them time to work out the many differences and enact the first comprehensive reform of the tax code since 1986.
Presenters are nationally prominent speakers and nonprofit state leaders who are involved in the intricate details of the tax policy proposals, are directly engaged in the policy debates, and can speak to effective advocacy strategies.
11/17/17 Update: Politicizing the 501(c)3 Community by Weakening the Johnson Amendment
The House bill contains language (at Section 5201) that would effectively erase most of the protections in the Johnson Amendment that have existed since 1954. (See www.GiveVoice.org for more details.) Efforts to remove that language in the House Committee were unsuccessful. During the House floor debate, Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) stated that the issue in the bill “that scares me the most is the repeal of the so-called Johnson Amendment.” The new language would politicize the 501(c)(3) community by allowing charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations to engage in partisan politicking for or against candidates if such action is “in the ordinary course of the organization’s regular and customary activities in carrying out its exempt purpose,” and it incurs no more than “de minimis” incremental expenses in doing so. Read More
What You Can Do: Call your Senators and tweet your Senators to tell them not to politicize charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations, and to insist that the final tax reform bill does not touch the Johnson Amendment. If you get a chance, let your Representatives know that Section 5201 of the House bill is an outrageous affront to the nonprofit community and must be deleted from the final tax reform bill. And if you haven’t done so already, sign onto the Community Letter in Support of Nonpartisanship and join more than 5,500 charitable nonprofits, foundations, and other organizations in support of retaining current law. See who has already signed the letter.
7/14/17, Update Re: Vote on Appropriations Amendment
Earlier this week, we let you know that the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services approved an appropriations bill that included an extraneous provision that would significantly weaken enforcement of the law on nonprofit nonpartisanship. Yesterday, the amendment to strike this section failed by a vote of 24 to 28.
National Council of Nonprofits President and CEO Tim Delaney released a statement. Read excerpts below or read the entire statement here.
“The partisan provision in the Financial Services bill erects insurmountable barriers that will prevent law enforcement officials at the IRS from stopping houses of worship from turning over their collection plates to campaign coffers and converting religious broadcast programming into explicit campaign ads that are exempt from campaign finance laws.
“This isn’t just a solution in search of a problem; it is a blind response to a narrow interest that ignores the will of those being hurt, as expressed by nearly one hundred religious denominations and organizations, more than 3,000 religious leaders, 89 percent of evangelical pastors, more than 4,800 charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations and 72 percent of American voters.
“The Johnson Amendment has never stopped a discussion of the issues of the day. Rather, it has been a vital protection for nonprofit missions, religious and otherwise, for more than 60 years. Being able to point to current law when saying “no” to politicians and their operatives has enabled nonprofits to focus on serving their communities, rather than catering to the desires of political candidates and their powerful donors… We hope that those in Congress will come to their senses and remove this damaging and unconstitutional rider before it advances any further.”
7/10/17, Update Re: Calling Your Congressman
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services approved an appropriations bill that includes an extraneous provision (rider) that would significantly weaken enforcement of the law on nonprofit nonpartisanship, the language in Section 501(c)(3) sometimes called the Johnson Amendment. The full House Appropriations Committee reportedly could consider the appropriations bill as soon as Wednesday, July 12.
The rider, Section 116 of the House Financial Services and General Government FY2018 Appropriations bill, would prevent the IRS from spending any funds to make a final determination that a house of worship or its affiliate has violated the Johnson Amendment unless the IRS meets three conditions: (1) the Commissioner of the IRS consents to a determination of unlawful conduct; (2) politicians on the House and Senate tax committees are given 30-days’ notice of the law-enforcement determination; and (3) an additional 90-days’ notice is provided before enforcement can commence. According to Newsweek, Section 116 “would make it exponentially more difficult to enforce” even the most blatant violations of the Johnson Amendment. The rider is fatally flawed in that it would erect unconstitutional and unreasonable hurdles on enforcing the law that ensures nonpartisanship. Tim Delaney, President & CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, has an excellent article in Nonprofit Quarterly explaining why this provision is a threat to all 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
7/7/17, Update Re: Rider on Spending Bill
An extraneous rider has been added to a spending bill that would make it more difficult for the IRS to enforce the Johnson Amendment. In response to this rider attempt, the West Virginia Nonprofit Association supports comments from Tim Delaney, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits:
“Charitable nonprofits, including houses of worship, and foundations vigorously object to any and all efforts to weaken the protections in tax law that prevent politicians, their operatives, and donors from demanding political endorsements and campaign contributions. The extraneous rider approved in the House Financial Services Subcommittee today would impose unconstitutional and unreasonable hurdles on enforcing the law that ensures nonpartisanship, and must be removed from the bill known as the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2018…”
Learn more about this rider and it’s potential consequences:
5/14/17, Update Re: Trump’s Executive Order
Background
For more than 60 years, an important provision in the federal tax code has successfully protected charitable nonprofits, religious congregations, and foundations from being hounded by politicians, political operatives, and paid political consultants seeking financial contributions, endorsements, and more. That provision (pejoratively called the “Johnson Amendment” by partisans) is being threatened by both President Trump, who vowed at the National Prayer Breakfast that he intends to “get rid of and totally destroy” the protection, and legislation in Congress seeking to completely repeal (H.R.172) or substantially weaken it (S.264; H.R.781). Those promoting the three bills couch them as attempts to promote religious freedom. But the bills would have the effect of politicizing and thereby erasing the public’s high trust in charities, religious congregations, and foundations to benefit politicians and paid political consultants.
The National Council of Nonprofits issued a statement expressing “strong opposition” to these changes. “Nonpartisanship is vital to the work of charitable nonprofits. It enables organizations to address community challenges, and invites the problem-solving skills of all residents, without the distractions of party labels and the caustic partisanship that is bedeviling our country. Indeed, current law is the reason that charitable nonprofits are safe havens from politics, a place where people can come together to actually solve community problems rather than just posture and remain torn apart.” The WVNPA agrees and supports the position of the National Council of Nonprofits and other national organizations and state associations who have signed on to fight the weakening or elimination of this important protection.
We will continue to inform you about the latest updates on this important issue. In the meantime, visit the links below to learn more.
Protecting Nonprofit Nonpartisanship, National Council of Nonprofits
Why Is Remaining Nonpartisan So Important…And So at Risk Now?, National Council of Nonprofits
Protecting Nonprofit Nonpartisanship Infographic, National Council of Nonprofits
