I was reading my paper this morning and I came across this story in the Banner Herald about the non profit group "Angel Food Ministeries" that is being investigated by the FBI and IRS for paying themselves too much of a salary to run the organization. In the story they make reference to SPREADING AROUND THE MONEY and I think they are pissed because they gave the most money to the republicans. They seem to be making a fuss that they (angel food ministeries) donated money to several "Conservative" campaigns over the last few years and one group that supported a democrat and I think they are making a bigger deal of the contributions they made, then to what they may have done illegally with the non profit funds. I have done a little research and can't really find out if this is illegal or not (donating to politicians). From what I have read its not really clear ?? If they make the donations in their own name and not the organization it does not seem to be illegal. However, if they made them in the non profits group name then yes there may be a problem. But, if you read the story in the online Athens link I have for you, it tells who they donated to. As you see it is all Republican candidates and they make sure to note that after every name. I think that is the REAL issue, that they didn't donate to any other party.... but, from my experience Christians generally are not liberals, so why donate to a party to whom you don't share their beliefs with ???????? To me, this is just another attempt to but blame on anyone who doesn't go with the liberal thinking of the news media, including the newspapers !!!!! This is just my thoughts !!http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/021709/new_389716054.shtmlThis from Wikipedia is all I could find on non profits donating or participatingin political campaigns.
Political Campaign Interventions
Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are prohibited from conducting political campaign activities to intervene in elections to public office. [1] The Internal Revenue Service website elaborates upon this prohibition as follows:
"Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes
"Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner.
"On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.
"The Internal Revenue Service provides resources to exempt organizations and the public to help them understand the prohibition. As part of its examination program, the IRS also monitors whether organizations are complying with the prohibition."
