Prepare an advocacy policy against the section 501(c)(3) political-campaign and legislation limits
Key facts
- Human involvement
- RedLawyer-led
- How AI is used
- List each proposed advocacy activity and whether the file describes it as contact with a legislature, advocacy of legislation, or a statement for or against a candidate. Write no policy sentence.
- What the lawyer must review
- You write the policy. Section 501(c)(3) requires that no substantial part of the activities be carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, except as subsection (h) provides, and that the organisation not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for public office, including by publishing or distributing statements. Treasury Regulation § 1.501(c)(3)-1(b)(3) says articles that expressly empower more than an insubstantial part of activities to be influencing legislation, or campaign participation or intervention, fail the organisational test, subject to the section 501(h) election the regulation describes. An organisation is an action organisation if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation, which includes contacting or urging the public to contact members of a legislative body to propose, support or oppose legislation, or advocating adoption or rejection of legislation. Legislation includes action by Congress, a state legislature, a local council or similar body, or the public in a referendum, initiative, constitutional amendment or similar procedure. Advocacy of legislation that is an insubstantial part of the activities does not by itself fail the operational test. An organisation is also an action organisation if it participates or intervenes, directly or indirectly, in a campaign for or against a candidate. A candidate is an individual who offers himself, or is proposed by others, as a contestant for an elective public office, national, state or local. Campaign participation includes written or oral statements for or against a candidate. The section 501(h) ceiling amounts were not opened. You decide what is substantial and what is campaign intervention.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUSCth
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Supporting preparation only. Consider narrowly defined preparation support after confirming the tool’s capability and permitted scope. The tool writes nothing into the document. Substantive advice, judgement and any restricted content remain with the responsible human. |
| Lawyer | Perform the substantive analysis and decisions. Independently check any permitted supporting work and approve the exact output for its intended use. |
Checklist
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.