## Facts

- A tax-exempt organization described in I.R.C. § 501(c)(3) conducts various educational and charitable activities.
- The organization operates an office that monitors and reports on legislative, judicial, administrative, and other governmental developments it considers socially significant.
- It distributes a monthly newsletter to a few thousand subscribers nationwide expressing the organization’s views on a broad range of issues; it sometimes encourages readers to contact government officials regarding those issues.
- After each congressional session, it plans a special newsletter issue summarizing the voting records of all incumbent Members of Congress on selected legislative issues important to the organization.
- The special issue will include the organization’s positions on the selected issues and present each incumbent’s votes in a manner showing whether those votes aligned with the organization’s positions.
- The publication will be politically nonpartisan and will not refer to political campaigns, elections, or candidates, nor expressly or impliedly endorse or oppose any incumbent as a candidate.
- The publication will not address incumbents’ overall qualifications for office and will not compare incumbents to challengers.
- The voting records of all incumbents will be presented; candidates for reelection will not be identified.
- The issue will include cautionary language noting limits of judging an incumbent based on selected votes and advising consideration of unrecorded matters (e.g., committee work and constituent service).
- The issue will be published as soon as practical after the session’s close, not timed to any election, and distributed only to usual subscribers without geographic targeting tied to elections.

## Issues

1. Whether a § 501(c)(3) organization’s publication and distribution of a post-session newsletter summarizing incumbents’ voting records on selected issues, presented with the organization’s issue positions and under stated neutrality constraints, constitutes prohibited political campaign participation or intervention under § 501(c)(3).

## Decision

- The IRS concluded that, on the stated facts, publishing and distributing the described voting-record newsletter does not constitute participation or intervention in a political campaign within the meaning of § 501(c)(3).
- The activity is treated as permissible nonpartisan educational communication focused on issues and legislative performance rather than electoral advocacy.

## Legal Principles

- A § 501(c)(3) organization is prohibited from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office, including through publishing or distributing statements.
- Nonpartisan communications that evaluate incumbents’ legislative voting records may be consistent with § 501(c)(3) when, in context, they:
  - Avoid references to elections, campaigns, candidacies, and any express or implied endorsement or opposition.
  - Cover all incumbents rather than selectively highlighting particular individuals.
  - Are not timed to elections and are not distributed in a manner targeted to electoral constituencies.
  - Present issue-based information and include framing that supports an educational purpose rather than a directive to vote for or against identified candidates.
- The campaign-intervention analysis depends on the full set of facts and circumstances, including content, context, timing, and distribution.

## Conclusion

The IRS determined that a § 501(c)(3) organization may publish a nonpartisan, broadly distributed, post-session congressional voting-record summary tied to issue positions without engaging in prohibited campaign intervention, where the communication avoids electoral cues, covers all incumbents, is not election-timed or targeted, and is framed as educational.


Rev. Rul. 80-282, 1980-2 C.B. 178 (1980)