Candidates, PACs and Nonprofits: What Changes by Client Type

1. Candidate and political committees

A federal political committee's treasurer carries recordkeeping duties under FEC rules. For contributions over $50, the committee keeps the contributor's name, address, date and amount. For contributions that add up to more than $200 in a year, it must identify the contributor. It keeps these records for 3 years after the related report is filed.

If your firm handles contributions or payments as the treasurer's agent, those duties reach your work. State and local committees follow their own state's rules.

Sources: 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR)

2. 501(c)(3) clients

The IRS says a 501(c)(3) is absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly intervening in any political campaign for or against a candidate. Voter registration and get-out-the-vote work is allowed only when it is nonpartisan, and activity that has the effect of favoring a candidate is prohibited.

That changes field work. Targeting by party or likely candidate support, which is normal for a candidate, is a problem for a charity. So is a script that mentions a candidate. A 501(c)(3) may lobby, but only within limits.

Sources: IRS, Restriction of political campaign intervention by section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations; IRS, Lobbying

3. 501(c)(4) clients

The IRS says a 501(c)(4) may make lobbying germane to its programs its primary activity. It may also do some political activity, as long as that is not its primary activity, and that spending may be taxed under section 527(f).

For a consultant, that means issue campaigns and legislative pressure fit naturally. Candidate work needs to be tracked so the client can show it was not its main activity.

Sources: IRS, Social welfare organizations

4. Texting rules follow how you send

The FCC's consent rules turn on how a message is sent rather than on who the client is. Autodialed texts to cell phones need prior consent. For political texts, the FCC says manually sent texts do not. Anyone may opt out at any time in any reasonable way.

What does change by client is registration. The Campaign Registry says the organization that texts is the brand, registered through a messaging provider. Each client is its own sender, so register and track each one separately rather than sending one client's messages under another's registration.

Sources: FCC, Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts (consumer guide); The Campaign Registry, The 10DLC ecosystem

5. Keep each client in its own workspace

Most mistakes come from sharing: a list built for a candidate reused for a charity's drive, or a script template carried from one client to the next. Give each client its own workspace, lists and templates, and label each with its entity type.

Before any send or walk, check three things: whose name is on it, which rules that client follows, and whether the list was built for that client.

Sources: IRS, Restriction of political campaign intervention by section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations; IRS, Social welfare organizations; 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR)

When you take on a new client

Record the client's entity type, who their counsel and treasurer are, which rules apply, and which of your templates are safe to reuse. Then build their lists from scratch.