Introduction
Organizations that engage in prohibited political campaign activity are subject to loss of nonprofit status and the imposition of an excise tax on funds spent on prohibited activities. As such, this lesson outlines activities and practices to avoid to ensure your organization remains in compliance with the IRS.
Activities to Avoid
Photos, Quotes, and Language Elevating Specific Candidates
Photos with candidates showing your organization’s logo and membership can be construed as political favoritism even if that was not the intent. Generally speaking, avoid any visuals and communications that connect your organization to a candidate in a way that can appear to be lifting that candidate up compared to others.
Implied or Direct Advocacy
Avoid any language in your organization’s communications praising the candidate’s leadership, character, track record, or anything that could be interpreted as advocacy. If the candidate must be referenced in communications, avoid any qualitative statements.
Implied or Direct Endorsement
Avoid sharing/tagging the candidate’s campaign, personal page, or social media content in your organization’s communications. Do not allow candidates to re-post your organization’s content in a means that implies endorsement.
Implied Or Direct Opposition (Slights)
Avoid language in your organization’s communications opposing or slighting a candidate. As above, avoid any qualitative statements regarding any candidate.
Offering Speaking Roles
Avoid giving any candidate a speaking role at your organization’s events and meetings unless all candidates are given the same opportunity to speak. While not all candidates may end up speaking, all need to have the same offer.
Examples of Activities to Avoid
A candidate goes to a tabling event and snaps a picture with some volunteers with their organization’s logo in the background. This picture then is used on the candidate’s social media page.
– In this instance, endorsement was not the intent of the organization however the outcome implies a candidate endorsement. Instances like this should be avoided.
A candidate reaches out to an organization asking to speak at their next board meeting. The organization accepts.
– In this instance, favoritism is implied because the organization did not offer the same chance to all other candidates before saying yes.