The Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) organization, deliberately, and every chapter and group will have a political committee that will make endorsements in elections. There is a separate Sierra Club Foundation, which is 501(c)(3), and they are, and need to be, very careful about separating c(3) and c(4) work, to not spend Foundation money on a…
The Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) organization, deliberately, and every chapter and group will have a political committee that will make endorsements in elections. There is a separate Sierra Club Foundation, which is 501(c)(3), and they are, and need to be, very careful about separating c(3) and c(4) work, to not spend Foundation money on any political or otherwise prohibited work. Chapters and groups will have separate c(4) and c(3) accounts and ensure that only c(3)-qualified activities (e.g. educational) are paid from c(3) funds. The national office has compliance staff that chapters and groups need to get clearance from.
That is fine. But regardless, all 501 (x) non-profits have to get their application approved by the IRS and that application includes a designated mission. Today there is not much scrutiny of mission creep. There needs to be.
The Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) organization, deliberately, and every chapter and group will have a political committee that will make endorsements in elections. There is a separate Sierra Club Foundation, which is 501(c)(3), and they are, and need to be, very careful about separating c(3) and c(4) work, to not spend Foundation money on any political or otherwise prohibited work. Chapters and groups will have separate c(4) and c(3) accounts and ensure that only c(3)-qualified activities (e.g. educational) are paid from c(3) funds. The national office has compliance staff that chapters and groups need to get clearance from.
That is fine. But regardless, all 501 (x) non-profits have to get their application approved by the IRS and that application includes a designated mission. Today there is not much scrutiny of mission creep. There needs to be.