Think Big America

This morning, the Chicago Sun-Times (itself a nonprofit, tax-exempt news organization!) reported that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has launched Think Big America. (I’ve looked for the Think Big America website, but when I click on the mostly likely Google results, my browser warns me not to go there, so for now, I’m unaware of whether and where Think Big America’s website is. It looks like what shows up on Google–kind of–is Ben Carson’s Think BIG America PAC, so the naming may raise some issues.) 

Think Big America is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. And Gov. Pritzker formed it (and contributed some amount of seed money to it) in order to protect and expand abortion rights throughout the country.

A quick review, though I’m sure most, if not all, readers here know the difference: like a 501(c)(3) public charity or private foundation, a social welfare organization generally does not pay taxes on its income. But there are a couple important differences:

First, public charities face substantial limitations on their ability to lobby and to endorse candidates for office. No substantial part of their activities can involve lobbying, and they cannot participate in partisan politics. By contrast, social welfare organizations face no limitation on their lobbying (though they do face some limitations on how much partisan politicking they can do).

Second, unlike donors to public charities, donors social welfare organizations cannot deduct their donations to the organization. (However, taxpayers who donate appreciated property to social welfare organizations do not realize gains on the transfer, itself a significant tax benefit that stands in contrast with the donation of appreciated property to other political organizations.)

How successful will Think Big America be? We’ll have to wait and see. But tax-exempt organizations will continue to be pulled into political battles, including those surrounding access to abortion.

Samuel D. Brunson