This checklist summarizes IRS rules for 501(c)(3) organizations for conducting candidate debates, sending out candidate questionnaires and voter guides, briefing candidates on your issues and activities, registering voters and helping them get to the polls.

Efforts to educate voters and encourage participation in elections are necessary to make our democracy work. All of these activities are completely legal, as long as your 501(c)(3) avoids any appearance of support or opposition to a candidate.

Your organization's 501(c)(3) election-related activities must be nonpartisan. This means it cannot support or oppose candidates, even indirectly. Violation of this rule can result in loss of tax-exempt status, as well as financial liability for directors and managers. Nonpartisan, however, does not mean organizations cannot take positions on issues, or engage in voter education activity, especially in the following four areas:

• Candidate Debates and Forums
• Voter Guides and Candidate Questionnaires
• Candidate Briefings
• Get Out the Vote and Voter Registration Drives

• All viable candidates must be invited;
• Location must be free of political considerations;
• Broad range of important voter issues must be addressed;
• Questions must be impartial in nature and presentation
• All candidates must be given an equal opportunity to respond;
• Moderator and/or questioner panel must be impartial, and inform the audience that candidate positions do not reflect the positions of the sponsoring organization;
• Results can only be reported, without editorial comment, through the sponsor's regular channels of communication.

• Questionnaires must be distributed to all candidates;
• Questions must be framed in a manner that does not suggest "right" or "wrong" answers, or reflect or promote the sponsoring organization's agenda;
• Questionnaire responses can be limited to a set number of words, but cannot be edited, summarized or characterized in any way;
• Voter guides cannot create any appearance of "acceptability" or "favoritism" towards one or more candidates is acceptable or unacceptable to the organization.

• All candidates and/or political parties are offered the opportunity for a briefing
• The charity does not publicize candidate or party endorsement of their position

• Message content must be limited to encouraging people to vote, and not promotion of a position on any issue
• Target audience must be based on neutral criteria that reflect a group's underlying purpose or practical constraints. (Example: a farm group can encourage farmers to vote, but cannot focus its efforts on districts that historically vote for any particular political party.)