February 11, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Playing by the Rules: Handbook on Voter Participation and Education Work for 501(c)(3) Organizations, by Thomas A. Troyer, Albert G. Lauber, Jr., and Milton Cerny, and Power, Politics, & Nonprofits: A Primer on Tax-Exempt Organizations, Campaign Finance, and the Law, by Bob Boisture and Beth Sellers, are two booklets from the non-profit coalition Independent Sector designed to help non-profit groups in their advocacy work. In Playing by the Rules, the authors — who are consultants to non-profit organizations — summarize the ways in which charities can engage in non-partisan voter-participation and education projects while complying with the Internal Revenue Service’s ban on electioneering. The booklet covers potential problems that raise red flags at the I.R.S., topics such as candidate forums and public-opinion polls, and joint efforts between charities [501(c)(3)’s], advocacy groups [501(c)(4)’s], and political action committees. Power, Politics, and Nonprofits explores how non-profit groups have come under greater scrutiny in the discussion of campaign-finance reform, due to politicians who use tax-exempt groups as a front for collecting money that would otherwise have to be reported under the federal laws governing campaign limits. The authors provide basic information on national elections and federal tax law as it applies to non-profit organizations, as well as list of “do’s and don’t’s” for 501(c)(3) groups. Publisher: Independent Sector, Publications Center, P.O. Box 343, Waldorf, Md. 20604-0343; (202) 223-8100 or (888) 860-8118; fax (301) 843-0159; World-Wide Web http://www.indepsec.org; Playing by the Rules, 44 pages; $14 for IS members, $20 for non-members; Power, Politics, and Nonprofits, 24 pages; $9 for IS members, $12 for non-members.
