Thread: La Raza: contributions are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

Federal Compliance Updates




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June 6, 1995

TO: Department of Health Program Managers and Subrecipients

FROM: Burney Huff, Internal Control and Compliance Officer

SUBJECT: PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR LOBBYING

FEDERAL PERSPECTIVE

Federal laws prohibit the use of federal funds to support lobbying activities by, for or on the behalf of a recipient of those funds. A lobbying activity is any communication with, or activity in support of any communication with, an elected official, officer or employee of the federal legislative or executive branch, an appointee of the federal executive branch, or a senior federal program official, intended to effect:

1- The formulation, modification or adoption of a federal legislation;

2- The formulation, modification or adoption of a federal rule, regulation, Executive Order, or any other program, policy or position of the United States Government;

3- The administration or execution of a federal program or policy (including the awarding of a federal grant, contract, loan, permit, license or cooperative agreement); or

4- The nomination or confirmation of a person for a position subject to confirmation by the Senate.

In addition, federal funds (per 31 USC 1352) may not be expended by the recipient of a federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement to pay any person for influencing or attempting to influence any of the following covered Federal actions:

1- The awarding of any federal contract;

2- The making of any federal grant;

3- The making of any federal loan;

4- The entering into of any cooperative agreement; and

5- The extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.

Further, any recipient of federal funds who uses funds from some other source to engage in the above activities may need to report these activities in accordance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (PL 104-65).

These prohibitions, and the lobbying registration requirement, are reflected in DHHS code (45 USC 93) and OMB circulars (eg. A-87 which classifies lobbying expenses as unallowable).

Not-for-profit corporations are further prohibited by the Internal Revenue Code (at 26 USC 501(c)(3) & (4)) from engaging in certain lobbying activities.

The 1997 DHHS appropriations act (PL 104-208, Title V, § 503.b) not only prohibits the expenditure of federal funds for activities designed to influence legislation or appropriations pending before the U. S. Congress but also extends this prohibition to comparable contacts (i.e. the legislative and executive branches) regarding matters pending at the state level.

Specific provisions are made, however, which exempt “Agency and Legislative Liaisonâ€

Exemption Requirements

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.

Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with Code section 170.

The exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and the preventing cruelty to children or animals. The term charitable is used in its generally accepted legal sense and includes relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged; advancement of religion; advancement of education or science; erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works; lessening the burdens of government; lessening neighborhood tensions; eliminating prejudice and discrimination; defending human and civil rights secured by law; and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

To be organized exclusively for a charitable purpose, the organization must be a corporation, community chest, fund, or foundation. A charitable trust is a fund or foundation and will qualify. However, an individual will not qualify. The organizing documents must limit the organization's purposes to exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) and must not expressly empower it to engage, other than as an insubstantial part of its activities, in activities that are not in furtherance of one or more of those purposes. This requirement may be met if the purposes stated in the organizing documents are limited in some way by reference to section 501(c)(3). In addition, an organization's assets must be permanently dedicated to an exempt purpose. This means that if an organization dissolves, its assets must be distributed for an exempt purpose, to the federal government, or to a state or local government for a public purpose. To establish that an organization's assets will be permanently dedicated to an exempt purpose, its organizing documents should contain a provision insuring their distribution for an exempt purpose in the event of dissolution. Although reliance may be placed upon state law to establish permanent dedication of assets for exempt purposes, an organization's application can be processed by the IRS more rapidly if its organizing documents include a provision insuring permanent dedication of assets for exempt purposes. For examples of provisions that meet these requirements, see Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization.

An organization will be regarded as operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes only if it engages primarily in activities that accomplish exempt purposes specified in section 501(c)(3). An organization will not be so regarded if more than an insubstantial part of its activities does not further an exempt purpose. For more information concerning types of charitable organizations and their activities, see Publication 557.

The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, such as the creator or the creator's family, shareholders of the organization, other designated individuals, or persons controlled directly or indirectly by such private interests. No part of a section 501(c)(3) organization's net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. A private shareholder or individual is a person having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any organization managers agreeing to the transaction.

Section 501(c)(3) organizations are restricted in how much political and legislative (lobbying) activities they may conduct. For a detailed discussion, see Political and Lobbying Activities. For more information about lobbying activities by charities, see the article Lobbying Issues; for more information about political activities of charities, see the FY-2002 CPE topic Election Year Issues.

http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable ... 99,00.html

Wow! Just wow. You're amazing LeShel. All I've had is my suspicions of what La Raza is and does and you've actually uncovered stuff!

Welcome to ALIPAC! There's another ALIPAC'er who pointed me to some interesting stuff on La Raza's public disclosure stuff (since they're a not for profit group). I'll try to dig this stuff up and post it here for you elucidation. I just found it LeShel: http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... light=raza

I don't know if it will be useful to you.

One last thing: welcome to ALIPAC LeShel!

Maybe you can get Lou Dobbs to report some of your findings?

Originally Posted by LeShel

I have been pushing for a full investigation of this group for awhile now. When I make my calls, e-mails, faxes, empty return envelopes from credit card companies, I always mention I want a full investigation of La Raza and all their associates.

Does any of this really surprise anyone? These are sneaky people who's agenda is to take back what they feel is theirs, the United States of America. Corruption, Mexico's national pastime, is becoming our government's same M.O. Conquistador Bush is the "Trojan Horse" for Mexico. It is so infuriating.

Thanks glad to be on board. It takes alot of time to accumulate enough information to get the ball rolling. It needs to be compiled in a way to connect the dots. I geus the next step is to send this information to the IRS and other investigative groups in our government.

This organization and all its satellites need to go down in flames. They have used and abused our system to the point of bankruptcy and are still demanding more.

The deceptions are so obvious when you start tying up the lose ends.

If you notice they always show footage of the woman in the church as this humble, simple, mother in simple clothes with her hair pulled back and no make up on, how quaint. I seen a picture of her when she met with the Mexican President, and I was not sure if it was the same woman. She had her hair done up, make up on, jewelry. Strange, she did not look at all like the poor mistreated woman in the news footage??

Wow! LeShel,

For someone with just a few post you sure get to the point and get some mileage out of them.

Nice job!

LeShel, if you need any help on this just PM me. Please keep us posted on what you've done too. It would be really nice to reveal your information on national television -- I'll drink a couple of beers when that happens!

Originally Posted by LeShel

Thanks glad to be on board. It takes alot of time to accumulate enough information to get the ball rolling. It needs to be compiled in a way to connect the dots. I geus the next step is to send this information to the IRS and other investigative groups in our government.

This organization and all its satellites need to go down in flames. They have used and abused our system to the point of bankruptcy and are still demanding more.

The deceptions are so obvious when you start tying up the lose ends.

If you notice they always show footage of the woman in the church as this humble, simple, mother in simple clothes with her hair pulled back and no make up on, how quaint. I seen a picture of her when she met with the Mexican President, and I was not sure if it was the same woman. She had her hair done up, make up on, jewelry. Strange, she did not look at all like the poor mistreated woman in the news footage??

Im pres of a non profit animal rescue and our 501c3 requires that we not
participate as a group in anything political. Wonder why this doesnt apply
in the case of the AARP and La Raza?????

goodwitchofthesouth,

Nice avatar.

If the corporations who fund la raza are righting off their support then we should boycott all of them: http://www.nclr.org/section/corporat...nal_corporate/

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) recognizes those corporations that have invested in NCLR’s long-term strategic efforts with multiyear, multimillion-dollar commitments, including NCLR’s Empowering An American Community Campaign.

The Allstate Corporation
Bank of America
The Coca-Cola Company
Citi
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Ford Motor Company
General Motors Corporation
MBNA Corporation
PepsiCo Foundation
The PMI Group, Inc.
State Farm Insurance Companies
UPS
Univision
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.