[Foundation-l] Politico: "Wikimedia foundation hires lobbyists on sopa, pipa"

[Gwern Branwen]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 12:33 PM, Pedro Sanchez <pdsanchez at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm worried that we may be getting in trouble.
> I don't know about US laws, but are charitable organizations allowed
> to meddle in political lobbying?
>
> I'd appreciate if more knowledgeable people could give us some light.

It's perfectly allowed, and we're allowed to take positions on
specific bills - it is just that lobbying cannot be a 'substantial
part' of the WMF's activities unless it switches its charity type.
(Googling around, I was reading
http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/whitepaperdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=12202
and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicp97.pdf )

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net/In%20Defense%20Of%20Inclusionism