While a 501(c)(3) group cannot work on behalf of or against candidates, there are a number of other voter education activities, such as those described below, that it can legally engage in, including:

• Candidates’ Statements. It is entirely proper for a charity to inform candidates of its positions on particular issues and to urge them to go on record, pledging their support of those positions. Candidates may distribute their responses both to the charity and to the general public. Charities, however, may not publish or distribute statements by candidates except as nonpartisan "questionnaires" (discussed in the following paragraph) or as part of bona fide news reports.
  
  
• Questionnaires. Charities with a broad range of concerns can safely disseminate responses from questionnaires. The questions must cover a broad range of subjects, be framed without bias, and be given to all candidates for office. If a charity has a very narrow focus, however, questionnaires may pose a problem. The IRS takes the position that a charity's narrowness of focus implies endorsement of candidates whose replies are favorable to the questions posed. The same applies when candidates are asked to respond to a charity's position paper. Unless you are certain that your organization clearly qualifies as covering a broad range of issues, your organization should avoid disseminating replies from questionnaires.
  
  
• Voting Records. Many charities follow the useful practice of telling their members how each member of a legislature has voted on a key issue. There is no legal problem with this practice provided that if the information is presented and disseminated during the campaign it is done in the same manner as it is at other times. A problem arises if an organization waits to disseminate voting records until a campaign is under way. If your organization has followed the practice of disseminating voting records as votes occur throughout the year, then you are safe in publishing the record of a vote that occurs during a campaign. If, however, your organization has not published the records regularly throughout the year, your group may not, during the campaign, publish a recap of the legislative votes throughout the legislative session. That is permissible, however, after the election.
  
  
• Public Forums. Charities may invite candidates to meetings or to public forums sponsored by the organizations. The invitation must be extended to "all serious candidates." It is best to write to them all simultaneously and to use identical language in the invitations. It is not necessary that all candidates attend. Even-handedness must be maintained in promoting and holding such a meeting or forum. The charity should not state its views or comment on those of the candidates. If there is a question-and answer period, each candidate must be given an equal opportunity to answer questions, and the moderator should strive to ensure balance. Speeches or other remarks by candidates at the forum may be published as news items in the charity's newsletter, if it is published regularly and if its circulation is limited to the organization's normal distribution patterns.
  
  
• Testimony on Party Platforms. As part of a lobbying effort, charities may testify before party platform committees at the national, state, or local levels. Responses to testimony may be reported in regularly published newsletters. Both parties' platform committees should receive copies of the testimony. Any account of the testimony and responses may be reported in the charity's regularly scheduled publication.
  
  
• Issue Briefings and Candidates' Statements. Issue briefings for candidates must be extended to all the candidates running for a particular office. A candidate may publish a position paper or statement on the issue, but a charity may not circulate the candidate's statement to the media, the general public, or the charity's members until after the election.