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In this week's issue...
Ready or not (and I’m guessing your answer may be “not”), the 2024 election is about to begin in North Carolina. We offer our first (of many) tips for 501(c)(3) nonprofits on nonpartisan engagement in the election, along with a link to a free webinar on February 7. We also share the good and bad news for nonprofits in the proposed bipartisan tax agreement announced in Congress this week and ask you to take five minutes to make three quick phone calls or emails to make it even better for nonprofits. We may bore you with a few details of Congress’ latest failed attempt to pass a federal budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. And in case you have missed it the past couple of weeks, we include one final reminder about next week’s filing deadline for lobbying reports.
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Join a Free Webinar on Nonprofits and the 2024 Election on February 7
In-person voting for the 2024 election begins in less than a month in North Carolina, with Early Voting for the primary election opening on Thursday, February 15. While 501(c)(3) nonprofits cannot support or oppose candidates for office or make campaign contributions, your nonprofit can (and should) engage in nonpartisan voter registration and voter education work. The Center is offering a free webinar on Wednesday, February 7 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. to help answer your questions about the ways nonprofits can safely, legally, and effectively engage in the 2024 election.
In the webinar, you'll learn the basics about what 501(c)(3) nonprofits can and can’t do in an election year, ways nonprofit staff, board members, and volunteers can (legally) engage in campaigns, and common questions (and possibly some answers!) about tricky election-year situations for nonprofits. You will also find out about new election laws and changes to the election process in North Carolina in 2024 that might affect nonprofits and the people they serve. And we will offer tips on ways 501(c)(3) nonprofits can protect their reputations and avoid legal trouble when partnering with other organizations in an election year. Register today!
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2024 Election Tip of the Week: Check Your Voter Registration
Leading up to the 2024 primary election this spring and the general election this fall, the Center will offer a variety of tips for nonprofits about nonpartisan voter registration and voter education. We encourage you to share these tips with your staff, board, and the people you serve. This week’s first tip: check your voter registration. The voter search page at the NC State Board of Elections is a must-click resource for every North Carolinian planning to vote in 2024. Just enter your name, click on “search”, and click on the option for the one that looks like you based on the full name, county, and ZIP Code. Once you are there, check out the following information:
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Your address. If you no longer live at the address where you are currently registered to vote, you’ll need to update your address to be eligible to vote in North Carolina. If you are planning to vote on Election Day (Tuesday, May 5) in the primary election, you’ll need to submit a new voter registration form with your current address to your county board of elections by February 9. If you have moved within the same county, you can also update your registration with your new address during Early Voting between February 15 and March 2.
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Your political affiliation. Most North Carolinians are registered as either “Unaffiliated” (36.68% of NC voters), Democrat (32.52% of NC voters), or Republican (30.01% of NC voters). If you are registered with a party (which also can include the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and No Labels parties in addition to the two major parties), you can only receive that party’s ballot in the primary election. However, if you are registered as Unaffiliated, you can choose any party’s ballot in the primary election, so you have the opportunity to be strategic about choosing the ballot with the most options in the races that matter to you the most. If this paragraph just convinced you to change your registration to Unaffiliated, you can still make that change for the primary election by updating your voter registration by February 9 (if you plan to vote on March 5) or during Early Voting (if you plan to vote between February 15 and March 2).
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Your polling place. If you plan to vote on Election Day, then you need to vote at the specified polling place for your precinct. During Early Voting, you can vote at any one-stop voting site in your county.
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Your sample ballots. North Carolina features long ballots in the 2024 election. To see your options for candidates for President, U.S. House of Representatives, NC Governor (plus nine Council of State positions), NC Senate, NC House of Representatives, judicial elections, and more, take a few minutes to review your sample ballot. And if you are registered as Unaffiliated, you can compare the sample ballots for the various parties to decide which one makes the most sense for you to use during the primary election.
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Congressional Tax Plan Includes Good and Bad News for Nonprofits
On Tuesday, the chairs of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee announced the details of a bipartisan tax package that would:
- restore three expired business tax deductions related to research and development spending, purchases of assets that lose value over time, and interest expenses; and
- reinstate parts of the expanded child tax credit that expired in 2022. Congress could include tax changes as part of appropriations legislation or pass them as a separate bill.
The expansion of the child tax credit could particularly benefit people served by nonprofits. The proposal would reinstate parts of the 2021 expansion of the child tax credit by making it refundable in 2023, 2024, and 2025. This would provide significant financial assistance to many low-income families who don’t normally pay income taxes. The expanded child tax credit helped lift many North Carolina families with children out of poverty in 2021, but child poverty levels rose sharply in 2022 and 2023 after the expanded child tax credit ended.
Unfortunately, the tax plan does not include any new or improved tax incentives for charitable giving. With donations to nonprofits declining last year, the Center and other nonprofits continue to advocate for Congress to add a universal charitable deduction to the tax package to encourage people to give more generously to support the work of charitable nonprofits.
The tax plan also would end new applications for the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) after January 31, 2024, both in response to the growing number of ERTC scams and fraudulent claims and to raise revenue to offset some of the costs of business tax deduction and child tax credit changes. Currently, nonprofits and businesses have until April 15, 2025 to claim the ERTC.
The House and Senate could vote on the tax plan in the next couple of weeks. Congress needs to pass it soon since several of the provisions could affect individuals’ and businesses’ 2023 tax filings.
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Take 5 Minutes to Help Fix the Item Above (and Get a Universal Charitable Deduction in 2024)
As we hinted in the last item, there is still time for Congress to add a universal charitable deduction to the tax plan currently under consideration. To make this happen, our Representatives and Senators need to hear immediately from the charitable nonprofit community. Call Senator Thom Tillis (202-224-6342) and Senator Ted Budd (202-224-3154)and your U.S. House Representative today or Monday and tell them: “The [Representative/Senator] must insist on restoration of the non-itemizer (universal) deduction as a provision in any tax package under consideration.” You can also write to Senator Tillis, Senator Budd, and your U.S. House Representative to deliver the message via email.
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Congress Approves Another Continuing Resolution to Avoid Partial Government Shutdown
Yesterday, both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives approved a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government through early March and avoid (for now, at least) a partial government shutdown. The latest continuing resolution provides temporary funding for the federal departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, as well as energy and water programs through March 1 and for all other federal agencies through March 8. The Senate passed the continuing resolution by a 77-18 margin, and the House passed it by a 314-108 vote. Most of North Carolina’s congressional delegation supported the continuing resolution with only Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) and Congressman Dan Bishop (R-NC) voting against it.
Last week, congressional leaders agreed on spending levels for the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September 30, 2024). Under the agreement, total spending levels would be $886.3 billion in defense spending and $772.7 billion in domestic discretionary spending. Among other things, the spending agreement would speed up $20 billion in funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and rescind about $6 billion in COVID relief funds that have not yet been spent. Congress now has until early March to try to pass the 12 appropriations bills necessary to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year or to pass yet another short-term continuing resolution.
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2023 Lobbying Forms Due on January 23 and 2024 Lobbying Registration (with Much Higher Fees) Now Open
Nonprofits that were registered as lobbyist principals in 2023 (and their staff or contractors who were registered as lobbyists) must file their final quarterly reports with the Secretary of State Lobbying Compliance Division by January 23. Lobbyist principals need to use the special fourth quarter expense reports (available online) that include the cumulative total payments to registered lobbyists for lobbying services for the year. To help you understand the basics of state lobbying laws affecting nonprofits, check out the Center's summary of NC lobbying laws for nonprofits.
Also, the NC Secretary of State has opened lobbying registration for 2024. Lobbyist principals (i.e. nonprofits that lobby) and lobbyists (i.e. nonprofit employees and contractors who lobby on behalf of nonprofits) must register annually with the Secretary of State. Lobbyists and lobbyist principals must register within a day after they begin lobbying. Thanks (or perhaps no thanks!) to a provision in the state budget, the registration fees for lobbyists and lobbyist principals are each $500 (plus a mandatory $3 electronic filing fee) for 2024. This means that a nonprofit with a lobbyist must now pay $1,006 in registration fees (plus an additional $503 for each additional registered lobbyist). The Center recognizes that these fees, which are twice as high as last year’s fees and among the highest in the country, may be a financial burden for some nonprofits. The Center is advocating for legislation to allow for fee waivers or reductions for some or all 501(c)(3) nonprofits, but legislators cannot make any changes to the fees until the 2024 short session begins this spring.
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DHHS Offers Resources to Help Nonprofits Provide Outreach on Medicaid Expansion
Medicaid expansion began in North Carolina last month. According to the new Medicaid expansion dashboard from the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), more than 272,000 North Carolinians enrolled in health care through Medicaid expansion last month. DHHS estimates that more than 300,000 additional North Carolinians may be eligible for coverage under Medicaid expansion. Almost all potential Medicaid expansion enrollees receive services from nonprofits, so it is important for nonprofit organizations to spread the word about Medicaid expansion eligibility and the application process.
DHHS has launched a new website to help nonprofits and others with community outreach on Medicaid expansion. The DHHS website includes basic information on eligibility for Medicaid coverage, details of costs and coverage, and free materials to help nonprofits provide clear and accurate information about Medicaid and Medicaid expansion to their clients and communities. Please share this information widely, especially with clients who may now be eligible to apply!
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Coming This Spring: Nonprofit Policy Conversations
This spring, the Center will host a series of Nonprofit Policy Conversations around the state to bring together nonprofit leaders and local elected officials (mostly state legislators) to discuss public policy issues that are important to charitable nonprofits and the people and communities they serve. At each of these Nonprofit Policy Conversations, the Center will provide a briefing on trends in the nonprofit sector and potential public policy solutions and challenges for nonprofits in 2024 and beyond. The Nonprofit Policy Conversations will include discussions about state and federal public policy issues of interest to local nonprofits and ways nonprofits can engage in the 2024 election while remaining nonpartisan. The Center will share dates, locations, and registration information soon.
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IRS Unable to Accept E-Filing of Form 990-T for Forms Due Through March 15
The Internal Revenue Service announced yesterday that, due to a computer system issue, it is not able to accept Form 990-T (which nonprofits file if they have to pay unrelated business income tax) electronically if they are due between January 15 and March 15. Affected nonprofits can seek an automatic extension of their Form 990-T filing deadlines.
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