Should "American Muslims for Palestine" Find Religion?
It might be good for many Muslim organizations.
Jason Miyares, the Attorney General of Virginia, is acting against “American Muslims for Palestine.” The attack appears to be focused solely on the Attorney General not liking the organization’s mission of advocating for Palestine.
Advocacy organizations should do whatever they can to protect themselves from politically motivated attacks like this. Some of the steps that American Muslims for Palestine should have taken and possibly can still take (obviously I am not providing them or anyone with legal advice) might include the following:
The State Matters
One strategy that most organizations should always consider is where the organization registers itself as a charity. Any organization will need to follow state laws in which it operates, but it does matter if the charity is incorporated in Virginia California, or Texas. The political and social environments in all these places are pretty different. While all these states are going to have a pro-Israel state-wide political leadership, the willingness to attack people for advocating for Palestinian rights is going to be different in each of these jurisdictions.
Consider Becoming a Religious Organization.
There are several advantages to becoming religious under both state and federal law.
Religious organizations have procedural audit safeguards included in Internal Revenue Code §7611. Unless the organization has “unrelated business taxable income” or certain kinds of transportation fringe expenses, they don’t need to file a Form 990 with the IRS. This is the form that I tend to rely on when I evaluate nonprofit organizations in this newsletter, so it makes me a bit sad when an organization does not have one I can review. Nothing stops Muslim charities from being transparent about their finances to donors and the community even without a federal 990 requirement, however. Other advantages to being a religious organization in the tax code go beyond the scope of this article.
More interesting benefits of being a religious organization come from state law, which will vary somewhat (since they are all different). Under Virginia law, for example, there is an exemption from registration as a charity. This is relatively common in various states that I’ve seen. Non-religious Muslim organizations in Virginia must certify each year that they don’t support terrorists. This is an actual thing on the form charities must fill out. Religious Muslim organizations in Virginia don’t need to subject themselves to this.
In California, charities are governed by the Nonprofit Integrity Act. Not only do religious organizations not need to register with the state Attorney General as other charities must, but the Attorney General’s enforcement jurisdiction is limited by the law. So, civil actions like what is taking place in Virginia are much less likely and maybe impossible in California for religious organizations. The Attorney General can, working with a local district attorney, go after leaders of religious organizations criminally for things like fraud, however.
How to Become a “Church”
In general, becoming a religious organization is not especially difficult. It is a wonder to me why it is that Muslim advocacy organizations don’t become religious organizations more often. The Islamic Society of North America is a religious organization. Outside the Muslim community, the Family Research Council, a right-wing political group, changed its status to a church. This is entirely rational and within the law.
Political activities (by that I mean advocating for people running for public office and not saying “Free Palestine”) by nonprofits is a sensitive issue. But it is no more sensitive with religious organizations than non-religious organizations. IRS Revenue Ruling 2007-41 guides this issue for professionals interested in this kind of thing. It is a compliance concern nonprofits should be able to navigate. This concern should not stop anyone from “going religious.” Indeed, religious organizations navigate these concerns every day.
A charitable organization does not need to operate a Masjid to obtain “church” status. They can often be Associations of Masajid. So several Masajid can become members of an Islam-focused Palestine organization. One reason why a “Muslim” organization may not want to seek out being a religious organization is that some secular grants may not be available. I don’t see this as a bad thing.
The political, social, and legal environment is always subject to change. And simply changing some paperwork is not a solution to everything. But it might avoid some of the nonsense we are seeing in Virginia.
Free Palestine.
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Incredibly relevant and timely information. I’m not someone who has ever worked for a not-for-profit but this newsletter has educated me about what works and what does not work. I used to think the articles were overly-critical but I now realize that the intention is to help Muslim consumers best understand what orgs handle money properly, and what orgs can do to best serve the people they want to help. The Palestinians community and the Muslim community in general is under fire so it is best we close ranks.
Well done, Ahmed.
Whatever tactical decisions specific Muslim organizations should make, the erosion of the Establishment Clause in the United States has lead to tax-evading subsidies for all kinds of "non-profit" behavior that is either political advocacy or profit-generating.
The United States should eliminate "religion" or "church" as a consideration in non-profits, with perhaps the most limited exceptions such as bona-fide ministerial excpetions (not the "janitor is a minister" claims designed to limit workers' rights).
In the long-run, perhaps the United States should eliminate tax deductions for donations to all organizations.