Nonprofit Organizations

Speaking with The Forward for a recent article, Partner Daniel Kurtz, head of Pryor Cashman’s Nonprofit + Tax-Exempt Organizations Group, explained the legal ramifications of President Trump’s recent pledge to repeal the Johnson Amendment.

The Amendment, passed in 1954, is the first U.S. law to completely bar 501(c)(3) organizations from intervening in the country’s elections in any way.

During the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on February 2, 2017, Trump expressed his intention to “totally destroy” the Amendment, which he would seemingly replace with a new bill that would allow organizations to use their resources to endorse candidates in U.S. elections.

Kurtz, who formerly served as the head of the Charities Bureau at the Office of the New York State Attorney General, told The Forward: “It’s been very good for the nonprofit world not to get embroiled in partisan politics. People are going to make decisions about supporting charities based on which side they’re on on which issue. I think it will be very destructive.”

Should President Trump make good on his vow to abolish the Amendment, nonprofit organizations would still have to contend with excise taxes that impose substantial financial penalties on charities and individual managers who direct the intervention in elections.

To read the full Forward article, please click here.

More About Kurtz’s Practice

With decades of experience advising world-renowned cultural institutions, universities, research institutions, health charities and private foundations, Daniel Kurtz is recognized as a foremost attorney in the area of Nonprofit + Tax-Exempt Organizations law.

Leveraging his diverse background as a corporate lawyer, civil prosecutor and leading governance authority, he is able to service the full range of needs of his nonprofit clients.

Kurtz is routinely called upon by the media to opine on legal issues impacting nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations.  

To learn more about his work, please visit here.