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BoardSource has just released a new article by my former boss, John Pomeranz entitled
Staying Legal While Engaging in Election-Related Activities. It’s free for BoardSource members, but you can check out a free portion of the article here.

Since it’s a timely subject, be sure to check out the latest in the Nonprofit Law Podcast’s Beyond the Podcast series… Nonprofits and Elections: Balancing Personal Versus Organizational Activity. It’s an on-demand video you can get through the NLP site here.

Nonprofit Law Podcast #31 is live, covering whether your organization needs to file a Form 990 this year.

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The IRS recently released Fact Sheet 2008-14, in which it spelled out when your nonprofit might be considered for an examination of its activities:

To determine which organizations should be targeted, experienced specialists analyze information from Forms 990 and other sources. This analysis will usually result in the selection of a group of returns for examination or compliance check. EO also reviews media reports and receives complaints from the general public and Congress about potential non-compliance by exempt organizations. After confirming the information, and when appropriate, these organizations may be selected for examination or to receive a compliance check.

This isn’t terribly earth-shattering news… basically the IRS says that it looks at 990s, media reports and complaints, which most in the community already assumed. It’s good to have it documented officially, however.

Nonprofit Law Podcast #30 dives into election waters again – can a candidate use your nonprofit’s space?

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Nonprofit Law Podcast #29 looks at one of the rare times nonprofits face a tax… unrelated business income.

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Who is Dean Zerbe, you ask? He’s the chief tax attorney for Sen. Charles Grassley, and to put it bluntly… not a friend to nonprofits, in my opinion. As the Chronicle of Philanthropy notes, he was a driving force behind many recent legislative efforts involving nonprofits in recent years. It will be very, very interesting to see if this impacts Sen. Grassley’s efforts in the future.

Nonprofit Law Podcast #28 turns its attention to the USPS and nonprofit mail rates.

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Americans United filed a complaint with a top IRS official, accusing a pastor of a Nevada church of illegally endorsing Barack Obama this past Sunday. More details at the Nonprofit Law Prof blog… the complaint (PDF) is interesting… the IRS gives some leeway to pastors and other religious leaders for endorsements in their individual capacity, but not when they use church resources to do so. This pastor made the comments during a sermon.

This situation reminds me of a moment in a documentary I just watched with the late Jerry Falwell speaking before his student base at Liberty University (a 501(c)(3) as is his church)… paraphrasing: “the IRS says Liberty University can’t endorse George Bush. But I can.” This was followed by a long litany of reasons to vote for George Bush. The event was held in a university arena by the head of the university… there are other factors to weigh here in a facts and circumstances analysis, but I don’t recall any IRS action aimed at Falwell for that event.

What does this say? There’s technically illegal actions and illegal actions that receive IRS scrutiny. Since the process is ruled by “facts and circumstances” analysis, it’s totally subjective and it can be difficult to rectify in one’s mind why one case receives sanctions and the other does not.

The latest Nonprofit Law Podcast is on the air… in number 27 we take a look at reporting changes to the IRS.

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If you don’t file your Form 990 – assuming you’re required to (some organizations are exempt) – you may have more than the IRS to answer to. You might find yourself at the other end of a press expose. The latest example? The 50-year old civil rights organization Southern Christian Leadership Conference just had its failure to file spread across the pages of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is a PR blow you don’t want you or your clients to take… just a reminder, if your nonprofit follows an end of the calendar-year fiscal year, your 990 is due May 15th…