Re: Banner must be removed from website NOW

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
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>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> GPG: ed25519/56034877E1F87C35
>>> GPG: rsa4096/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE
>>> https://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git
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>>>
>>
>>
>
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