More than 100 Brooklyn nonprofit organizations that are prohibited by federal and state laws from participating in campaigns and other election activities have made donations or lent support to candidates or political committees tied to Brooklyn elected officials, according to the Times Union.
The donations are more than double the amount of prohibited activity by nonprofits in any other municipality across the state during that period, the newspaper reported.
501(c)(3) nonprofits receive two valuable benefits: an exemption from paying federal taxes and tax deductions for donors. Federal law has barred organizations from campaign activity for decades, and New York has a similar prohibition that took effect in 2019.
The Times Union said it uncovered instances of 19 nonprofit organizations endorsing candidates, displaying their political signs, promoting their fundraisers, or speaking at campaign events in Brooklyn. These occurred despite mandates that their work be exclusively focused on public-benefit purposes, including charitable, religious, educational or scientific endeavors.
The candidates who benefited from the improper practices in recent years include, but are not limited to: Republican state Sen. Stephen T. Chan, Republican state Assemblyman Lester Chang, Democratic Assemblyman William Colton, and Democratic New York City Councilwoman Susan Zhuang. In earlier years, nonprofits donated to former state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, former Assemblyman Nick Perry, who was also a U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, and former Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs, all Democrats, the paper said.
Many of the nonprofits are state and city grant recipients. Multiple sources interviewed for the story said some of the charities are wading into politics now with the explicit goal of securing more government funding. Other organizations appear unfamiliar with the rules, or may be failing to comply due to language and cultural barriers. Several of the candidates who have benefited are Chinese American, and so too are many of the groups that support them, the paper said.
To see the full list of nonprofits and candidates involved and read the article, click here.
