I just spoke to Roger Dingledine of the Tor project and his opinion was that it's OK. He suggested that projects can help from the EFF if they're worried.
He also pointed me to an internal email thread where this was discussed (which I also have access to read). The general consensus from multiple people was that it's fine, two notable limits being how much you can spend, and that you need to focus on legislation and not people running for office. Here's a more specific resource going into more detail: http://bolderadvocacy.org/resource/public-charities-can-lobby-guidelines-for-501c3-public-charities-2 One quote from there: "The IRS has provided no absolute guidance on how much lobbying is “substantial,” but most tax practitioners generally advise that charities can safely devote 3-5% of their overall activities toward lobbying" Of course, everything I've said doesn't matter if Freenet doesn't want to place such banners - but I thought I'd make some points around whether this is legal/illegal *in general*, in case other people read this public mailing list and get turned off doing such activities themselves. X Michael Grube: > I really can't stress this enough, getting 501c3 status does take time and > money (I think the application fee was about $800 last time I checked) and > provides a lot of benefits. It's not something we should toy with. > > On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 5:49 PM, Michael Grube <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Unless we want to risk our 501c3 status by playing around with the >> definition of "substantial", we should probably not run any kind of >> campaign, including helping to collect signatures and send emails. >> >> On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 5:45 PM, Michael Grube <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-section-501-c-3-organizations >>> >>> " In addition, it may not be an *action organization* >>> <https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/political-and-lobbying-activities>*, >>> i.e.,* 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." >>> >>> On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 3:33 PM, Ximin Luo <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Could you educate us with some more details on that? A link to the >>>> specific legislation would be great. On a quick web search, I can see this: >>>> >>>> http://www.njnonprofits.org/NPsCanLobby.html >>>> >>>> which only talks about spending money on lobbying, implying that >>>> costless efforts (like having a banner on your website) are perfectly fine. >>>> >>>> X >>>> >>>> Michael Grube: >>>>> I'm somewhat familiar with 501c3 rules. Ian's correct, it's not legal >>>> for >>>>> the Freenet project to officially have a political agenda. >>>>> >>>>> Tor project is probably also in violation. >>>>> On Jun 25, 2016 2:57 PM, "Ximin Luo" <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Ian Clarke: >>>>>>> Even more seriously, it may put us in violation of US law because we >>>> are >>>>>> a 501c3 >>>>>>> non-profit, which are restricted in the political and lobbying >>>>>> activities they >>>>>>> can participate in while claiming 501c3 status. >>>>>> >>>>>> I don't see the banner now, but I would just like to point out that >>>> the >>>>>> Tor project is also a 501c3 non-profit and they are also protesting >>>> against >>>>>> Rule 41. >>>>>> >>>>>> https://blog.torproject.org/blog/day-action-stop-changes-rule-41 >>>>>> >>>>>> I don't know the specific restrictions about lobbying though, so it >>>>>> *could* be the case that they're also in violation. But I think this >>>> is >>>>>> less likely. >>>>>> >>>>>> X >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> GPG: ed25519/56034877E1F87C35 >>>>>> GPG: rsa4096/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE >>>>>> https://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Devl mailing list >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Devl mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> GPG: ed25519/56034877E1F87C35 >>>> GPG: rsa4096/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE >>>> https://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Devl mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl >>>> >>> >>> >> > _______________________________________________ > Devl mailing list > [email protected] > https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl > -- GPG: ed25519/56034877E1F87C35 GPG: rsa4096/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE https://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git _______________________________________________ Devl mailing list [email protected] https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl
