📣Nonprofit Action Alert
Advocate for the independence of nonprofits
Action Alert!🚨
Speaking solely from my lived and professional experience as a conscientious board member and professional who trains other nonprofit leaders…I urge you:
Call your Representative today to oppose HR9495.
Here we go again! The House defeated this measure, in part because they needed a 2/3 majority. But now it’s back and all they need is a simple majority. In the end, 52 Democrats were the weak links and failed to defend democracy.
I personally think that Republicans can be moved on this issue if they understand the delicate social fabric that nonprofits hold up for the whole of society (not to mention the tax write-off & goodwill that many Congressional members benefit from). It won’t just be the nonprofits they don’t like, but it will be those filling in the gaps on services that are already precarious enough. It is almost mind-boggling when you see the potential consequences.
Remember to call those Dems who stood up for us too. Thank them but also urge them to hold the line this time too (we don’t need new weak links). Positive reinforcement was THE most effective tool when I was a lobbyist. Use it often!
A Duty of Care
Whether I’ve been serving as a board member, a volunteer, a leader or employee, I have always tried to put the community at the center of my decision-making. As a board member I owe not just a fiduciary duty or one of loyalty, but as a duty of care to the people we serve, the communities we support, and especially to the ethical defense of our organizations.
This is a dangerous precedent to set that will have a ripple effect that could tear our delicate social fabric apart. All it would take is one tug on a few national nonprofits for all the smaller ones to feel the crunch to stop serving whichever marginalized population is on the labeling menu this week.
Nonprofits already carry the bulk of services that government can’t fully fund on its own. How many are stocking the shelves of food banks? How many are doing in-home care? Therapy? Job training? Environmental clean-up? With a “de minimis” standard, that means that anything more than incidentals would be enough to revoke that nonprofit status, disrupting not just the funding sources for that nonprofit, including the wages of their employees or payment or rent, but also incurring additional costs just to fight it, with no clear standard of getting it back.
Oh but wait! There’s more, because it won’t just interrupt that funding temporarily, but could disrupt critical community services permanently, endangering more than just the populations that are targeted. It won’t just be that people are falling through the cracks in systems, which was already happening, it’s that the social safety net we’ve been able to create to catch people will be stretched to its breaking point, which could impact not just charities but private vendors who supply them. Can you see where I’m going with this?
…the dangers here are both direct and indirect; even organizations who are never explicitly targeted may fold under the pressure to abandon their support for marginalized communities and progressive causes for fear that they'll be next. Will theatres stop producing any work by Palestinian artists or telling the stories of immigrants? Will social service nonprofits quietly remove their services for trans people? Will we all start telling ourselves that a little bit of moral compromise here and there to keep our heads down is better than getting in trouble with the Trump administration and being forced to shut our doors? The only way to avoid ending up facing that awful choice is to make it clear to Congress that this bill is a losing proposition every single time it comes up.
Claire Willet, “H.R. 9495 Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Nonprofits”
Vague & Overbroad = a signal for abuse
Just like when an abuser starts generalizing and using vague threats to keep their victims in line, this bill does that to our Constitution through nonprofits.
See, it’s vague enough that it can be applied to ANY nonprofit that aids ANY GROUP that his administration labels as a terrorist. At his rally here in Colorado, he said there was “an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World”. Regardless this is based on a vile lie, he has also said that Aurora, CO would be the start of the deportations. When he’s just one soundbite away from declaring them terrorists, is it any wonder why my spidey-sense is tingling?
Speaking at a hotel and resort in the suburb, he pledged to carry out “Operation Aurora” with a goal of deporting every undocumented immigrant with a gang tie nationwide. To meet the objective, Trump said he’d invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president power to detain non-citizens in war times. The law is best known as the legal foundation for Japanese internment camps during World War II.
The Denverite. “How immigrants and their advocates are bracing for ‘Operation Aurora’”.
They have already indicated they plan to target pro-Palestine groups but Aurora also approved a measure to investigate the nonprofits that are helping migrants. So can you see why I would be concerned?
Need to learn more about it? here is a collection of articles:
Common Dreams https://www.commondreams.org/news/501c3-nonprofit
Nonprofit Quarterly: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/bill-threatening-nonprofits-advances-in-us-house-again/
Claire Willet: https://grantwriting-with-claire-willett.ghost.io/h-r-9495-is-a-five-alarm-fire-for-nonprofits/
Rolling Stone: House Fast Tracks Bill That Would Give Trump Power to Target Nonprofits
How I see it
Nonprofits provide essential supportive services that build up intricate community frameworks. It is this “material support” they provide (any support including property, services, Financial assistance, training, advice, etc) that is at risk.
Could be used punitively to stop nonprofits from serving vulnerable populations by labeling those populations as “terrorists”. As we have seen, they don’t confine it to only one person, but apply it to the entirety of a group, no matter how law-abiding or innocent.
The loss of a 501c3 status could stop services and leave thousands of participants at risk of disability, deportation, disability & death.
Tangling this bill up with tax relief for US nationals who are wrongfully detained overseas (an objectively good thing) they hope to fool the American public into not only giving up the right to protest, one sad piece at a time, but also the essential services that often bridge people to greater things in life whether it be education, health care or advocating for a ceasefire overseas to bring those Americans home. All things the Trump administration has promised to dismantle, threaten or revoke.
Consider an example like World Central Kitchen. Would they be considered “aiding terrorists” by bringing food to Gaza? Or might it be designated as such because José Andres pulled out of a restaurant deal when Trump insulted Mexicans? Who’s to know, because they don’t have to provide a reason or explanation.
Because the law doesn’t require officials to explain or provide evidence, it erodes due process, a pillar of our legal system enshrined in our Constitution.
With only 90 days to “appeal”, it requires already cash-strapped organizations to devote essential resources, i.e. unrestricted donor money to the administrative and legal costs of responding to these needlessly punitive measures. It feels like a back door to a deeper audit since it is unclear what burden of proof will suffice.
It also requires verification that they will not provide any further help. That certification is good for 5 years (it’s worth noting that it’s a number that conveniently keeps nonprofits quiet through the anticipated 2028 election). This feels like a a step toward a loyalty pledge too.
A Word on Due Process
From the ACLU’s letter earlier this year:
While the sponsors of this legislation have stated that it is needed to avoid what they refer to as a “time-consuming bureaucratic process”3 under current law, what the bill sponsors are actually seeking to avoid is fundamental due process. If this bill were to become law, the Secretary of Treasury could strip a US nonprofit of its tax-exempt status without providing the nonprofit a meaningful opportunity to defend itself before a neutral decision maker.”
Civil Society Letter to House Opposing H.R. 9495
Document Date: September 20, 2024
The bill is deceptively vague, overly broad, and a mechanism that can easily be used to punish political opponents and silence advocates all on a whim. With a leader who has serious impulse control issues who has tapped highly unqualified loyalists to fill his cabinet, and a civil service that is facing mass firings, this potentially puts thousands of programs at risk. When such a designation does not even have to be justified with evidence, it could easily be used against anyone who stands in the way of this administration’s agenda.
Call your Rep today:
Via ResistBot: https://resist.bot/petitions/PCZIVT
Via Fight for the Future: Tell your reps to vote NO on H.R. 9495!