Early voting for the 2022 general election is now open in all 100 counties of North Carolina. As friend of the Center Lisa Hazirjian explains in a new blog post (complete with horror stories about Election Day car troubles and foul weather), it is important for your nonprofit to encourage your staff, volunteers, and clients to vote early this year. The Early Voting period, which continues through Saturday, November 5, is the one time when everyone who is eligible to vote in North Carolina can register and vote at the same time, and can vote at ANY Early Voting location in their home county. Here are two questions your staff, volunteers, and the people your nonprofit serves may be asking (along with resources to help you answer the questions):

• Looking for your county’s One-Stop Early Voting sites? Check the NC Board of Elections One-Stop Early Voting search tool to find locations and times of all the Early Voting sites in your county. If you plan to register and vote at the same time, be sure to bring accepted proof of residency, as explained here.  
• Want to find a sample ballot or check on your voter registration status? You can do both through the NC Board of Elections’ online Voter Search tool. Note that if you aren’t currently registered to vote in your county – or if your registration is at an old address – you can register or update your voter registration at a One-Stop Early Voting site, but you won’t be able to register and vote on Election Day. Tip: All registered voters can find a sample ballot by searching for themselves, clicking on their name, and scrolling down to a section titled “Your Sample Ballot.” From there, you’ll need to click on the entry near the middle of your screen (it might look something like B0002 or B0004). 

Once you’re ready to vote, make an Early Voting plan and encourage others to do so, too!

Third quarter lobbying expense reports are due to the NC Secretary of State by today. Nonprofits that are registered as lobbyist principals and nonprofit staff and contractors registered as lobbyists must submit their expense reports each quarter. For more information on lobbying registration and reporting requirements, check out the Center's summary of NC lobbying laws for nonprofits.

Nonprofit employees have just over a week left to take advantage of the temporary Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver. This temporary waiver makes it possible for many nonprofit workers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for the PSLF program, thereby reducing or potentially eliminating student loan debt. The most important message that nonprofits can share with their employees with student debt is to apply for the PSLF by the end of the month, even if they have questions about details of their applications (which can be filled in after the October 31 deadline).

The PSLF program forgives the balance of most federal student loans after ten years working for charitable nonprofits and governments. Many nonprofit workers with student debt may not be aware of the benefits of the PSLF program or realize that the temporary waiver can provide immediate forgiveness for some borrowers. So far, about 5,300 borrowers from North Carolina (who work for either nonprofits or governments) have been approved for more than $333 million in student loan forgiveness under the waiver.

Here are three things your nonprofit can (and should) do today to help ensure your eligible employees take advantage of the temporary PSLF waiver:

1. Remind your employees about the temporary PSLF waiver and the October 31 deadline in any upcoming staff meetings or communications. Share the U.S. Department of Education’s free resources about the waiver (note: the website may have delays due to the high level of interest) and the recording of this week’s National Council of Nonprofits webinar on the PSLF waiver.
2. Make sure your employees know your nonprofit’s employer identification number (EIN) and the contact information for the person on your staff to direct PSLF forms and related questions.
3. Encourage your employees to check out The Institute of Student Loan Advisors’ free information about PSLF, how you might qualify, and all things student loans.

One concern about PSLF that the Center has heard from nonprofit employees is that they may need to pay state income tax on the amount of their loan forgiveness. In fact, borrowers who receive student loan forgiveness under PSLF aren’t liable for either federal or state income tax on the amount of their loan forgiveness. A recent announcement from the NC Department of Revenue that certain types of student loan forgiveness is taxable income for the purposes of state income taxes has created confusion among some borrowers who are seeking loan forgiveness through PSLF. To help assuage nonprofit employees’ concerns (and hopefully help encourage them to apply for the PSLF waiver before October 31), the Center has shared its analysis of why PSLF loan forgiveness is not taxable.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a final regulation that could lower health care costs for the families of many nonprofit employees by addressing a quirk in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplace known as the “family glitch.” Under a 2013 IRS regulation, employees and their spouses and dependents were ineligible for ACA marketplace premium subsidies if the employee had access to “affordable” health insurance through their employer, regardless of whether other family members had access to “affordable” health coverage (with “affordable” defined through a calculation in the regulation). The new rule, which takes effect on January 1, 2023, changes to “affordability" calculation to cover the entire family’s health care costs. Starting in 2023, nonprofit employees’ families and dependents will be eligible for ACA marketplace premium subsidies – which may be significantly less expensive and offer more plan options than nonprofit group health plans – if health coverage for the entire family under the lowest-cost employer provided health plan costs more than 9.12% of household income.

A new law that took effect on December 1, 2017 changed the way that businesses and nonprofits register their assumed business names (sometimes known as “doing business as” or “DBA” names) in North Carolina. As a result of this law, any assumed business names that were registered prior to December 1, 2017 will automatically expire on December 1, 2022. 

If your nonprofit operates under a name other than the name listed in your articles of incorporation AND you haven’t updated your assumed business name registration with your county register of deeds, you’ll need to re-file before December 1 to avoid losing your assumed business name. Nonprofits that operate with assumed business names in multiple counties only need to file with the register of deeds in one county. For more information, including assumed business name filing forms and a searchable statewide database of assumed business names (in case you aren’t sure whether your nonprofit has filed for an assumed business name certificate), check out the NC Secretary of State’s resource page.

Have you been wondering what types of election-related activities your nonprofit can and can’t do between now and the November 8 election? You’re not alone. The Center has been fielding many questions about what’s legal and what’s advisable, and posted updated answers to some of the most common questions we’re hearing. Let us know of other questions you have about your nonprofit’s engagement in the 2022 election.

Earlier this year, the Center sent a candidate questionnaire on nonprofit issues to all North Carolina candidates for Congress and the NC General Assembly asking about their personal experience with nonprofits, their priorities if elected, and which nonprofit sector policy issues they would most enthusiastically support. The Center is pleased that more than a quarter of candidates on the ballot this fall have completed the questionnaire. 

It’s important to see what the candidates on your ballot said about nonprofits. Here are three things you can do today:

1. Take a few minutes to check out the interactive 100-county map of candidate responses to learn more about the candidates on your ballot. 
2. Share these responses (by sharing the link to the map) with your staff, board, volunteers, and the people you serve. 
3. If you see candidates in your county who haven’t responded, reach out and ask them to complete the questionnaire. We’ve made it easy with this template you can customize and send to candidates running in your county who haven’t yet replied – their names and email addresses can all be found with the 100-county map. The Center will continue to update the response page through Election Day in November.

A special thank you to all the nonprofits that have already reached out to their local candidates. As the National Council of Nonprofits noted in this recent article, your participation has been critical to the success of this project!

One of the easiest ways nonprofits can help promote elections is by giving your staff paid time off to vote during Early Voting or on Election Day. To help ensure that nonprofits show leadership when it comes to empowering the millions who work daily to create a more equitable society, Nonprofit VOTE, the National Council of Nonprofits, and several other national organizations launched the Nonprofit Staff Vote campaign.

The Center has proudly signed on to the Nonprofit Staff Vote campaign, and we encourage your nonprofit to join also. To model best practices, the Center is sharing its policy (below) allowing staff to take time off to vote or to volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers. Feel free to borrow and adapt this language to fit into your organization’s personnel policies. And let us know if your nonprofit is also giving staff time off to vote in this year’s election.

“Voting and Election Day. The Center encourages all employees who are eligible to vote to participate fully in the electoral process. Any Center employee may take paid time off work on Election Day or during the Early Voting period to vote in any primary, general, or run-off election. Employees should notify their supervisors of the time they plan to take off for voting.

“Center employees also may take up to one day per year of paid time off to volunteer in a nonpartisan role as a poll worker on Election Day or during the Early Voting period. Employees must get prior written approval of their supervisors (which shall not unreasonably be denied) before taking this paid time off. Employees volunteering for political parties or campaigns on Election Day or during the Early Voting period may not be paid for their time engaging in partisan political activities, but they may take annual leave for any time spent volunteering for candidates or political parties.

“Paid time off for voting and nonpartisan election volunteer work is in addition to annual leave, sick leave, and personal leave that employees have accrued. Employees are not required to use annual leave, sick leave, or personal leave when they take paid time off to vote or to volunteer as a nonpartisan poll worker pursuant to this policy.”

This week, the IRS published its inflation adjustments for various different tax thresholds for 2023. Among other things, the maximum amount that employees can include in pre-tax contributions to health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) increases to $3,050 for 2023 (up from $2,080 this year). Many nonprofits offer health FSAs as part of their employee benefits plans.

Earlier this month, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report that found serious flaws with the simplified form for securing tax-exempt status for smaller charitable nonprofits (IRS Form 1023-EZ). The TIGTA report, which conducted undercover testing and was able to secure 501(c)(3) status for four of five fictitious nonprofits, concluded that the Form 1023-EZ does not require enough material for the IRS to determine which organizations are and are not legally eligible. The report also found that the IRS conducts follow-up reviews of fewer than 1% of Form 1023-EZ applicants that receive tax-exempt status. The National Council of Nonprofits, state charities officers, and the IRS Taxpayer Advocate have long criticized the short-form application as being inadequate, open to abuse, and harmful to the wellbeing of the charitable nonprofit sector. The Center shares these concerns.

The number of individuals giving to charitable nonprofits declined 7% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. According to the report, the decrease in donors came from a reduction in donations of less than $500 and from fewer one-time donors. The decline in the number of donors in the first half of 2022 is particularly troubling for nonprofits since continued inflation and fears of a recession could mean further declines in charitable giving in the near future. One way that policymakers can help ensure that people continue to give generally to support the work of nonprofits is to expand and enhance federal and state tax incentives for charitable giving. The Center will continue to advocate for our members of Congress and the NC General Assembly to prioritize policy solutions that ensure nonprofits have the financial resources necessary to provide essential service for our communities. Let us know if you would like to be involved in future advocacy on incentives for charitable giving.

The Center provides Nonprofit Policy Update each week as a benefit to its nonprofit members. However, to help all North Carolina nonprofits respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we're temporarily providing this newsletter to non-member nonprofits. Don’t miss out – become a member to ensure you continue receiving these updates along with many other valuable benefits.