Alliance of Justice in the News

Alliance for Justice's own Abby Levine discusses electoral restrictions on tax-exempt charitable organizations in this New York Times piece.

Charitable organizations like the Intrepid foundation usually steer clear of such political activity for fear of jeopardizing their federal income tax exemption. On its Web site, the Internal Revenue Service says that contributions to political campaign funds “clearly violate the prohibition against political activity.”

One test of whether that rule has been violated is “whether the board chairman was inviting people to an event in his role as chairman of the board,” said Abby Levine, legal director for advocacy programs at the Alliance for Justice in Washington. Ms. Levine, who advises charitable organizations on how to comply with federal tax laws, was not familiar with the Intrepid case, but she said she discouraged tax-exempt organizations from using their lists of employees or trustees for communications involving political campaigns.

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