Basically a charity in the USA can spend up to 20% of its expenses on "direct lobbying" of related issues. Basically that means they can say "this is good and that's good" - but they can't actually endorse a party or individual. They can educate on that person - "so and so wants to do this" - but they can't then so "so vote for ABC instead" or anything along those lines. It can get a little trick if an org speaks on an issue that is in no way connected to their mission - but SOPA/PIPA and just about any technology related legislation falls within WMF's mission.
Essentially on SOPA/PIPA - this is absolutely within US law and it seems incredibly unlikely given WMF's budget that any of these expenses would ever come close to 20%. :) -greg aka varnent On Jan 22, 2012, at 1:00 PM, Gwern Branwen wrote: > On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 12:33 PM, Pedro Sanchez <pdsanc...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> I'm worried that we may be getting in trouble. >> I don't know about US laws, but are charitable organizations allowed >> to meddle in political lobbying? >> >> I'd appreciate if more knowledgeable people could give us some light. > > It's perfectly allowed, and we're allowed to take positions on > specific bills - it is just that lobbying cannot be a 'substantial > part' of the WMF's activities unless it switches its charity type. > (Googling around, I was reading > http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/whitepaperdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=12202 > and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicp97.pdf ) > > -- > gwern > http://www.gwern.net/In%20Defense%20Of%20Inclusionism > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
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