As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to protect nonprofit organizations from partisan politics.

Charitable nonprofits, including houses of worship, are among the few remaining trusted spaces where people come together across political, religious, and cultural divides to solve local problems. In every community, charitable nonprofits feed, heal, shelter, and nurture people of every age, gender, race, socioeconomic status and political persuasion.

The public’s trust in charitable nonprofits is rooted in one simple principle: nonprofits exist to serve the public good, not partisan politics.

Today, the Trump Administration and some in Congress are attempting to insert partisan politics – and the dark money that fuels it – into the charitable nonprofit sector. They want to eliminate a law that has protected nonprofits for more than 70 years – starting by removing this safeguard for houses of worship and religious organizations. Without this protection, however, politicians may try to pressure charitable nonprofits to endorse their election campaigns, exert control over nonprofit organizations’ mission and the services they provide, and funnel tax-exempt charitable donations to their election war chest.

Inserting partisan politics into nonprofits could severely damage the integrity and effectiveness of the entire sector and our elections by:

• Dividing and weakening our communities, rather than bringing people together to solve local problems.
• Threatening the independence of charitable nonprofits, undermining public trust.
• Giving tax breaks to wealthy donors for campaign contributions, funneling dark money into elections at the expense of taxpayers who may disagree with the candidates being supported.
• Distracting nonprofits and houses of worship from their missions.

Protection against partisanship is not about silencing voices. Faith leaders and charitable nonprofits can and should speak out on moral, social, and public policy issues that impact their missions. Inserting partisan politics into nonprofits, however, puts these critical organizations at risk of exploitation and abuse by politicians. The independence of these community institutions depends on keeping partisanship out of them.

I ask for your support in ensuring that nonprofits remain nonpartisan in law, purpose, and impact.

Thank you for your leadership and service.