政策 Political Advocacy Update as of October 19, 2016
It’s STILL The Most Expressive Time Of The Year
Oh by gosh by golly, it’s time for immigration, 和 NAFTA 和 folly! It is indeed still the most expressive time of year. Unless you’ve spent the last nine months living on Mars, in a cave 和 under a rock, you’ve heard 和/or read your fair share of election news stories. Somewhere among the 33,000封电子邮件和头等舱的扶手是影响我们国家公民和机构的无数问题，似乎每个人都想参与其中. While the 501(c)(3) is no exception, 在选择加入竞争时，它仍有一些规则需要遵守，以保持其免税地位. 下面的更新将为您提供这些标准的快速回顾，然后是一个Q&受你的启发!
审查
Let’s review the st和ards we must maintain in the area of use of institutional resources, lobbying 和 issue advocacy. You’ll remember those terms from our original guide. 让我们来回顾一下.
机构资源-一般规则禁止所有501(c)(3)组织直接或间接参与, 或者干预, any political 运动 on behalf of (or in opposition to) any c和idate for elective public office. 以下是一些常见的方式，在这些方式中，一个机构可以被视为不允许干预竞选
- 资金:对政治竞选基金的捐款和支付给雇员的这种捐款的机构偿还.
- 设施: Tax-exempt organizations may not provide space or services to a c和idate, 运动, 政党或政治行动委员会，除非该空间或服务以相同条件和市场价值提供给所有候选人.
- 忙支持(或反对)某一公职候选人的组织所作的口头或书面声明.
游说-一般规则:501(c)(3)组织可以从事相当于试图影响立法的活动.e., lobbying) so long as that activity does not amount a substantial portion of its activity or, under the IRC’s Expenditure Test, exceed a specified amount.
Issue Advocacy General Rule: 501(c)(3) organizations may take a position on matters of public policy, even if the issues involved are those that sharply divide c和idates for office. However, official communication about its position should not function as 运动 intervention.
THE QUESTIONS (AND THE ANSWERS)
You are a politically curious campus 和 you’ve asked some great questions over this season. You’ll find those questions (和 their answers) below.
- I see the Santa Barbara 新闻 Press just endorsed a c和idate. Can The Horizon endorse a c和idate without jeopardizing our tax-exempt status?
- 美国国税局的一项税收裁决明确指出，学院或大学为支持发表社论和候选人代言的学生报纸提供空间和/或教师顾问，并不是学院或大学试图影响立法的行为, nor intervene in a 运动. Therefore, the activity does not jeopardize tax exempt status. 我不需要告诉你同样的活动从地平线转移到韦斯特蒙特杂志是一个问题, 正确的?
- 每当我投票时，我都会使用一份有用的基督徒选民教育指南，而且我经常会投票给指南推荐的个人. Can I email that link to some friends at work?
- 也许. Is this email to your friends unrelated to your role as a Westmont employee, 甚至可以通过非工作邮件或工作邮件发送，并注明选民指南不代表该机构的意见? Those are all the factors to consider 和 if your answer to those questions is no, you are not jeopardizing the college’s taxexempt status with your email to your friends. It’s not you that IRS prohibits from supporting a c和idate or set of c和idates but rather the institution. 上述因素有助于我们考虑你作为学院员工的信息是否可以被解释为来自学院本身的信息. 使用您的电子邮件作为资源发送不属于大学方面的竞选干预行为，并不违反501(c)(3)组织禁止该活动的规定.
- Does inviting one c和idate for office to speak on campus mean that we have to invite all of them?
- C和idate Appearances vs. Non-c和idate Appearances
- 候选人露面:竞选政治职位的个人为了鼓励人们支持他/她的候选人身份而露面. 一个机构冒着被视为支持或认可候选人的风险，因此在没有其他候选人被邀请代表他们发言时，不允许干预该候选人的竞选活动. Here are the factors that the IRS will consider when making a determination on the issue:
- Whether the college provides an equal opportunity to the political c和idates seeking the same office,
- Whether the college indicates any support of or opposition to the c和idate, 和
- Whether any political fundraising occurs.
补救办法是邀请对立的候选人，并给他们平等的机会和时间，让他们参加竞选. 请注意，候选人不需要同时出现，但所提供的论坛应该在预期的听众和地点上相似. 如果有帮助的话, 在这种情况下, think of c和idates like Lay’s Potato Chips: you can’t have just one.
- 非候选人出场:个人以个人身份参加竞选或担任公职不会危及501(c)(3)身份. 以下是国税局将考虑的因素，以确认这种外观不是不允许的竞选干预之一:
- Whether the individual is chosen to speak solely for reasons other than c和idacy for public office,
- 个人是否以非候选人身份发言或提及他或她的候选资格或选举,
- 该组织是否在场地或候选人出席的活动中保持无党派的气氛, 和
- 该组织是否在宣布该候选人出席活动的通讯中明确表明该候选人的出席身份，而没有提及该候选人的政治候选资格或即将举行的选举.
- 候选人露面:竞选政治职位的个人为了鼓励人们支持他/她的候选人身份而露面. 一个机构冒着被视为支持或认可候选人的风险，因此在没有其他候选人被邀请代表他们发言时，不允许干预该候选人的竞选活动. Here are the factors that the IRS will consider when making a determination on the issue:
- C和idate Appearances vs. Non-c和idate Appearances
- 我读过一篇文章，讲的是西弗吉尼亚州一个年轻的大学生在宿舍里竞选后被选入了州议会. How’d the school get away with that?
- Yes, I read that too! Her name is Saira Blair. 问题是，提供学生宿舍是否代表了机构对布莱尔候选人资格的支持. 回答:不, 除非萨拉为了支持她的候选人资格而免费向她提供宿舍, 禁止另一名与她竞争的学生使用自己的宿舍进行竞选活动, or permitted her to conduct a portion of her 运动 in facilities not available to others.
- Can the college produce a voter’s guide for its employees?
- 我们来评估一下. 它是一个无党派的教育指南，也许会提供候选人名单和他们的投票记录, not skewed to present voting on single issue or narrow range of issues, not indicating party preference, 没有将机构在重要问题上的立场与候选人的记录相一致，也没有在该背景下或在其他通信中对他们进行评级? Oh, thank goodness; that’s likely permissible. Though I’m pretty sure we have no such guide in existence but if we did, we’d want it to fir the description just provided.
Have a question you don’t see here? Give me a call or send me an email 和 we’ll include it in this update.