The socially highly conservative organization Focus On The Family (FotF) has declared itself a church, according to Right Wing Watch:
Focus on the Family, the behemoth Religious Right organization founded by James Dobson, has declared itself to be a church, thereby avoiding a requirement that it file public tax documents, according to IRS records and a document available on the organization’s website.
Focus on the Family filed as a non-church 501(c)(3) nonprofit as recently as the 2014 fiscal year, submitting to the IRS a publicly available Form 990 as most tax-exempt nonprofits are required to do. But when the group posted a Form 990 for the 2015 fiscal year on its website—dated October 26, 2017, and reporting a massive budget of $89 million—it was emblazoned with the message “Not required to file and not filed with the IRS. Not for public inspection.”
Right Wing Watch admits to being puzzled. I’ve been thinking about this, and in the light of the upcoming mid-terms, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m seeing the light. Despite the Johnson Amendment, which bans churches from endorsing politicians, it still happens through small subterfuges such as ‘voter guides.’ FotF may be looking at the coming mid-terms, gulping at the current polls, and deciding to batten down the hatches. If the Democrats are as successful as they are hoping, FotF will be losing a friendly Congress, if not an Administration, in about a year.
If they’re planning to pour money into upcoming elections, especially the 2020 Presidential election, this may be their way of obscuring some of the money trying to influence voters.
