Being in the business of making the world a better place often requires nonprofit organizations to become politically active. The IRS rules prohibit 501(c)(3) charities from engaging in certain kinds of political activities, but there are a lot of political activities that charities can (and should) engage in to further their exempt purpose and mission.
Over the last 15 years, the IRS has made life much easier for small nonprofits. The first big change was to create a Form 990-N, which allowed nonprofit organizations with less than $50,000 in gross receipts to file the 990-N “e-postcard.” Unlike the lengthy Form 990 that requires detailed accounting information and disclosure of the highest compensated employees, the e-postcard only
