Welcome, Arielle!
We welcomed our newest staff member in August and couldn't be more pleased to have her on board! Arielle Gingold is our new Public Policy Manager, and if you call with a question about your membership, she's likely the one you'll be talking to about that as well. Arielle is a 2008 graduate of The George Washington University here in Washington, D.C., where she studied political science. After graduation, she spent a year working as a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center, so she's already well-versed in the critical issues at the intersection of religion and politics today, and has a keen understanding of what we need to do to protect both faith and freedom in our society.
FAQ from you: 501(c)(3) vs. 501(c)(4) – what’s the difference?
Chances are you’ve noticed a difference in our requests for donations this year, namely an emphasis on the fact that your gifts are now tax-deductible. If you’re wondering what changed, read on.
With the past year’s financial difficulties, charitable gifts have been tough for some of our donors. We appreciate all that you do to continue your support of Interfaith Alliance’s critical work, so we’ve been doing everything we can to ensure that we’re handling your donations responsibly.
As you may know, Interfaith Alliance is actually two organizations: Interfaith Alliance, a 501(c)(4) organization and Interfaith Alliance Foundation, a 501(c)(3). They work together to do the work at the intersection of religion and politics that is so important to you. In the past, the 501(c)(4) was the lead organization and most of your gifts went to it, which is why they were not tax-deductible. However, the work we do falls within the boundaries of a 501(c)(3) (the difference is that a 501(c)(3) is limited to spending no more than about 20% of its income on lobbying efforts, whereas a 501(c)(4) is unlimited in its political spending), so we’ve switched the vast majority of our programs – and our fundraising efforts – to our 501(c)(3). That way, we can continue our work protecting the vital boundaries between religion and government…and you can get a break on your taxes!
Pass it on
In addition to rolling most of our work into our 501(c)(3), we’ve also moved into a smaller office space this year, which means we’ve had to minimize the “stuff” quotient at Interfaith Alliance HQ. Books and extra office supplies were donated to The Salvation Army. Half a dozen computers found a new home at the World Citizens Coalition for Children in Maryland, a non-profit that works to get newly immigrated families from Africa set up with email access to help them integrate into the local community. As a non-profit ourselves, we know it can be tough to keep one going, especially in difficult economic times, so we try to help fellow non-profits when we can.