Nonprofit Political Activity

501(c)(3) Charitable Organizations

The Johnson Amendment—so-called because then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the language in 1954—is the portion of the Internal Revenue Code that holds that section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations must not “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

In other words, the Johnson Amendment prohibits charitable organizations, including both private foundations and public charities, from participating in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any political candidates. This includes both contributions of funds and statements (written or verbal) in favor or opposition of these candidates. 

The Johnson Amendment does not prohibit nonprofits from engaging in limited lobbying, voter education or registration efforts, or civic engagement. Voter education or registration efforts with evidence of bias in favor of one candidate over another are prohibited.

Impact on Philanthropy

The Johnson Amendment is a critical protection that keeps nonprofits nonpartisan. Thanks to the Johnson Amendment, nonprofits are not drawn into divisive political campaigns; cannot be influenced by donors or political candidates to take sides in elections; and maintain the trust of their communities even in times of political polarization.

The Council opposes any change to the Internal Revenue Code that would effectively repeal this prohibition on political intervention.

Recent Developments

Legislation (119th Congress)

  • The Free Speech Fairness Act (S.1205 / H.R.2501), introduced by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC), would allow a nonprofit to engage in political campaign activity that is aligned with its exempt purpose and results in the organization incurring not more than de minimis expenses.

Regulations

  • The IRS’s 2025-2026 Priority Guidance Plan includes guidance on the Johnson Amendment. Given past statements from President Trump, including an executive order during his first term that deprioritized enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, this guidance is likely to attempt to weaken the provision.

Legal

  • National Religious Broadcasters v. Werfel: The National Religious Broadcasters, an association of conservative broadcasters, Intercessors for America, a conservative prayer advocacy group, and two Baptist churches in Texas filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claiming their right to speak freely about political candidates and issues was being “improperly chilled” by the Johnson Amendment. They are asking the court to declare the Johnson Amendment unconstitutional. A proposed settlement from the IRS that would only apply to the plaintiffs’ churches is under consideration. Read more about the case, and read our statement in support of the Johnson Amendment.

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501(c)(4) Social Welfare Organizations

There is another type of nonprofit organization—501(c)(4) social welfare organizations—which, under current law, are permitted to engage in some political activity, as long as it is not its primary activity.

In November 2013, the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed guidance regarding tax-exempt, social welfare organizations on candidate-related political activities. These regulations created a more bright-line rule about what type of political activities do not qualify as promoting social welfare for 501(c)(4). The proposal created deep, and widespread concern across the sector—with a reported more than 122,000 comments submitted.

The Council was one of those concerned organizations, submitting comments to address three key issues presented by the proposed rules:

  1. The rules would chill civic engagement efforts of 501(c)(3)s—activities that are vital to a thriving democracy;
  2. If applied to the Council’s 501(c)(3) members, the political activity standard in the rules would be inconsistent with current tax law, which permits foundations to fund certain voter education and voter registration activities; and
  3. The rules go beyond the Treasury Department’s rulemaking authority.

In response to the overwhelming number of public comments on the rules—most in opposition—the Treasury Department withdrew the rules and promised to publish a revised version in the summer of 2015. Those revised rules have not yet been released.

The Council supports clarification of guidelines for political activity by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, but strongly opposes any new rules that would dampen nonpartisan activities and civic engagement efforts of nonprofit organizations—including 501(c)(3) charities.

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