Politics

A new organization is set to debut Nov. 4 with a mission that is unusual in the nonprofit world — to endorse political candidates who have solid plans for strengthening nonprofits in their communities. Next year, it will set up a political-action committee to start funneling money to their campaigns.

CForward seeks to turn the tens of millions of people who work or volunteer at nonprofits into a “powerful political force” that can reward politicians who include nonprofits in their economic strategies.

Time Inc. is making available two new lists that offer expanded political selectivity for more accurate targeting, available from Infogroup.

Infogroup announces the brand-new Blair Political Affiliation Masterfile. Reach responsive, mature buyers with a known political affiliation. The Blair customers support their respective parties and are the perfect prospects for your political offer. They are proven responders to offers in many categories.

Sometimes, good direct mail is just downright ugly. On purpose. Maybe the goal is for the piece to look inexpensive and put together on the fly with whatever office supplies are at hand — or not done by a professional graphic designer. It implies frugality and no dime wasted on fancy, artistic, matchy-matchy stationery.

Facebook is forming a political action committee, strengthening ties of the social networking giant with Washington politicians as the company also faces growing questions about how it handles users’ privacy. Facebook’s PAC “will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a e-mailed statement.

Ted Hart discusses government funding with Mark McIntyre, senior vice president of federal funding and advocacy at Russ Reid, on the Nonprofit Coach.

President Barack Obama collected $86 million combined for his re-election campaign and the Democratic party during the past three months for 2012.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video posted early Wednesday that it raised more than $47 million and the Democratic National Committee brought in more than $38 million through the end of June, building a foundation for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts in next year's election. Obama's team had set a public goal of $60 million combined.

The California Latino Legislative Caucus released the names of dozens of donors Monday that collectively have contributed more than $400,000 to its nonprofit foundation since 2009.

Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, an Artesia Democrat who has chaired the Latino Legislative Caucus since December, released a list of 53 donors who contributed $243,600 in 2009 and $195,500 in 2010.

Mendoza previously had released a list of seven contributions received since he took control of the caucus late last year. Only three of them, totaling $20,000, were donated in 2011.

In a surprise about-face, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it has dropped any consideration of enforcing gift taxes on donations made to nonprofit advocacy groups. Several big donors to advocacy groups had reported this spring that they had received questions from the IRS about whether they should have paid gift taxes. Many advocacy groups, classified under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, spent heavily on political ads in the 2010 election cycle.

Eight Kansas nonprofit groups are sharing more than $150,000 left over from Gov. Sam Brownback’s inaugural festivities. Brownback wanted to use his inaugural ball in January to raise money for charity, then discovered that state law required any leftover funds go to upkeep of the governor’s mansion, Cedar Crest. The Legislature changed the law during this year’s session.

Of the slightly more than $150,000 raised but unspent, Brownback’s office says $50,000 has been donated to the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, while $35,000 went to rescue missions in Topeka, Emporia, Salina and Wichita.