Last month, CEO Jeff Hirota shared the Community Foundation’s support of the Johnson Amendment – today, we’d like to underscore our position.
Last month, CEO Jeff Hirota shared the Community Foundation’s support of the Johnson Amendment – a provision in the U.S. tax code that prohibits all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
Today, we’d like to underscore our position by sharing with you the following excerpt of a recent statement from the Council on Foundations‘ President and CEO Vikki Spruill regarding the recent White House Executive Order on the Johnson Amendment:
“Today’s [May 4] White House Executive Order is an unfortunate and misguided step towards unraveling our nation’s critical decades-long history of separating the good work of the charitable sector from electoral politics. By weakening enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, the President’s order blurs an important distinction that has existed for 60 years between tax-exempt institutions and political organizations. It also swings the door wide open for unchecked ‘dark money’ to flow through nonprofit organizations, allowing for unlimited, anonymous, tax-deductible political donations.
Since our nation’s earliest days, citizens have engaged in charity and public good. Today, charitable giving from individuals and foundations help countless individuals in the communities in which they live. Their good works should not become entangled in electoral politics. The nonprofit sector, including our churches, foundations, charities and others, needs to maintain its independence as it provides the social capital to lift up the disadvantaged and strengthen communities.”
Specifically, the Johnson Amendment ensures that organizations such as ours – that claim tax-exempt status – cannot collect contributions on behalf of political campaigns, or make any statement for or against a particular candidate. As such, we align with the Council on Foundations in “[opposing] the repeal or weakening of the Johnson Amendment.”
Similarly, we stand with the Colorado Nonprofit Association whose President and CEO Renny Fagan issued a statement that “the EO seems to weaken IRS enforcement of the law against political activity. It muddies the water by directing the IRS to enforce the law less stringently for political speech by churches than for political speech by any other charity. It is also silent on whether expenditures associated with political speech are subject to looser enforcement. Nonpartisanship is key to maintaining public trust in nonprofits and the EO is a step in the wrong direction.”
With significant federal policy changes like these underway, your questions and comments are welcome as we work together to catalyze communities throughout Boulder County. Feel free to reach Jeff Hirota at Jeff@commfound.org or 303.442.0436 x127.
