The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

What Nonprofits Can Do

Once a nonprofit elects to come under the 1976 law, it is allowed to spend 20 percent of its first $500,000 of annual expenditures on lobbying ($100,000); 15 percent of the next $500,000, and so on, up to $1 million per year. This is obviously quite ample, but it is even more generous than it appears, for there are seven legislation-related activities that nonprofits may conduct that are not considered lobbying by the Internal Revenue Service and thus can be done without counting against the $1 million limit. The first three of these are similar to those that private foundations enjoy: nonpartisan analysis and research, technical assistance to committees, and self-defense. The other allowed activities are making contact ...