April 28, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Charities and foundations are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby Congress as lawmakers step up their scrutiny of nonprofit groups, reports Congressional Quarterly (April 18).
For instance, Independent Sector, which represents 500 charities and foundations, paid $200,000 last year to Nick Giordano, a prominent lobbyist who works for Washington Council Ernst & Young. And the Council on Foundations and several big foundations together paid $280,000 to Kenneth J. Kies, a Washington lobbyist who is a former director of Congress’s Joint Tax Committee, which advises lawmakers on ways to improve tax laws.
Some of the lobbyists have been seeking business by warning charities and foundations that Congress plans to make changes that could place new restrictions on their operations.
The spending on lobbyists is not winning favor with one of the most influential lawmakers dealing with nonprofit issues.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, told the magazine: “Unfortunately a lot of charities seem to be listening to the Chicken Littles out there and spending big money on K Street’s priciest lobbyists. I don’t know how these charities’ boards can justify top-dollar lobbyists to their individual donors.”
Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, told the magazine such criticism was unjustified. “There is a deep worry that charitable programs could be substantially damaged. The solutions being proposed are more like a sledgehammer than a scalpel.”
The article is available to the magazine’s subscribers at http://www.cq.com.
