Press Releases

WASHINGTON ­­­­- The following is the complete text of a joint statement released by the Alliance for Justice, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the National Council of Nonprofit Associations and OMB Watch, following their April 24, 2003, meeting with IRS officials:

At a meeting on April 24 with representatives of seven organizations from across the nonprofit sector, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials stated that they were halting an IRS program in which a sample of charities was audited because they reported lobbying activities.  The IRS, however, indicated that it was not examining organizations simply because they had made a 501(h) lobbying election, contrary to concerns raised by some of these organizations as recently reported in the press.  We, the nonprofit groups that attended that meeting, applaud the move by the IRS, but we urge the IRS to take strong, affirmative steps to remind the nonprofit sector that lobbying by charities is legitimate.

Representatives of the Alliance for Justice, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, and OMB Watch met with senior staff from the IRS Exempt Organizations division.  The groups had requested the meeting after learning several weeks ago that the IRS appeared to be targeting audits on some public charities that reported more than $10,000 in expenditures for lobbying.  At that time it appeared that charities that had made the 501(h) election were being targeted for audits.

Steve Miller, the director of exempt organizations for the IRS, confirmed that lobbying by charities had been a factor in selecting a group of organizations for audit, but he said that the project had not specifically targeted charities making the 501(h) election.