COMMENTARY: Most nonprofits aren’t required by law to disclose their donors even if they work to influence public policy and politics.
Heath Haussamen
Some engage in what the law defines as issue advocacy — bringing a problem to light. Others overtly lobby to pass legislation. And some explicitly get involved in elections.
The law allows most donors who fund such efforts to remain secret.
As I wrote earlier this week, Common Cause New Mexico is lobbying to require greater disclosure in Santa Fe. And the organization is demonstrating its commitment to sunshine by voluntarily disclosing its own donors who gave $250 or more.
Common Cause’s national policy requires the release of that information when asked for it. NMPolitics.net made the request. The organization complied.
Common Cause’s commitment to donor transparency gave me an idea: Why not encourage nonprofits that engage politicians, candidates and citizens to voluntarily disclose their funding?
Donor disclosure matters. Many nonprofits have the money to impact the public debate. For example, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces aired pro-wilderness TV ads in 2010 paid for by a secret donor.
Such spending happens all the time on the left, the right, and in between. The public would benefit from knowing who’s paying for what.
NMPolitics.net isn’t a nonprofit — we’re a small business — but we work to bring problems to light and do reporting that arguably influences legislation and elections. And, in the same spirit of sunshine that leads us to fight for government transparency, we disclose every donation we receive so you can hold us to our commitment to treat everyone fairly.
In 2007, the progressive Center for Civic Policy (CCP), which has criticized state legislators in mailers, voluntarily released information about its funders. At the time, the attorney general and secretary of state were trying to force CCP to register as a political action committee and release donor info. The government agencies lost that fight in federal court.
CCP said it was releasing a list of 95 percent of its donors because journalists requested it. Well, I’m publicly requesting again.
Nonprofits that engage in issue advocacy, lobbying and politicking, I’m asking you to voluntarily release your donor lists. Send them to me at heath@haussamen.com. I’ll publish them and recognize you publicly for supporting transparency.
If you’re already disclosing funding, you can simply point me to the page on your website where you list donors and I’ll link to it. If you haven’t posted that information online, you can send it directly to me and I’ll publish it.
NMPolitics.net discloses all our donors. Common Cause discloses most. I hope others will join us in making New Mexico more transparent.