Can Tea Parties legally hold their meetings at a church & it not loose it's tax exempt status?

[MelissaB]

I just moved to Texas and have seen a few "San Angelo Tea Party" bumper stickers. I did a search for them this morning and found that quite a few of their meetings are held at "The Heights Baptist Church".

Here's one example of many:

TextCitizen Activist Training & Political Pot Luck
July 26, 2010

Mark your calendar for these two upcoming events:

The San Angelo TEA Party is sponsoring a Citizen Activist Training August 17th, 6:00 to 9:30 pm at The Heights Baptist Church. Make plans to attend now, and bring your friends. The cost is reasonable, and you save $5 by registering on line prior to the event. The attached flyer has all the information, including a link to register. Come and learn how to be an effective Citizen Activist.



San Angelo Tea Party: http://www.sanangeloteaparty.net/

The Heights Baptist Church: http://www.theheightsonline.org/

[Stevenmarc]

1. Mmmmmm, yes

If the church themselves doesn't promote the meetings as a church function then all they are doing is renting a space to an organization.

[Ian David]

2. Call the church and ask if you can hold a Democratic Party meeting there. n/t

[ClassWarrior]

3. Nope. Not if the church is advocating for particular candidates.

NGU.

[Lasher]

4. Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches

by defining a 501(c)(3) (tax-exempt) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161131,00.html

[PoliticAverse]

5. IRS 'fact sheet' on 501(c)(3) Organizations and political activity.

Election Year Activities and the Prohibition on Political Campaign Intervention for Section 501(c)(3) Organizations:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=154712,00.htm...

See also Publication 1828 "Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations":

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

[MadHound]

6. Sure, just ask the Unitarian church near you

How many liberal political events they have sponsored.

The church can't promote politics from the pulpit, but they can lend or rent out their facilities.

[LiberalEsto]

11. It's not sponsorship

to rent rooms for meetings.

Many religious organizations supplement their income by renting space to other religious groups, nursery schools, support group meetings such as AA, karate classes, etc.

It doesn't necessarily follow that the church supports these groups, although I imagine it would be extremely unlikely that my Unitarian-Universalist congregation would rent meeting space to a group of neo-Nazis.

[H2O Man]

7. Yes.

[MelissaB]

8. Thanks, everybody! I didn't know for sure.

[SoCalDem]

9. Churches often let groups "use" their meeting spaces

Scouting used to often hold meetings in churches, as did other groups.

Some churches actually rented the space..others let people use it for free.,.as a civic gesture

As long as the church employees/pastor/etc does not HOLD the meeting, they are probably within the law

[tammywammy]

10. My community group meets at a church

It started with meetings about the mineral rights leases (the group negotiated a price with the gas company) and now it's a non-profit to work on local issues within our area of the city, including things like political debates.

[slackmaster]

12. The IRS Code allows non-profits to rent out space to other organizations

Regardless of the tax status of those organizations.