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by torwayburger 1937 days ago
My understanding is that they're registered as a charitable organization, not a non-profit. These terms are often used interchangeably, but from a tax and earnings perspective they mean different things. This is often further confused with not-for-profit organizations, which is yet another thing.
2 comments
dragonwriter 1937 days ago
> My understanding is that they're registered as a charitable organization, not a non-profit.

That's impossible in the US; “charitable organizations”—501(c)(3)—are a subset of nonprofits—501(c).

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kgwgk 1937 days ago
501(c)(4)
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torwayburger 1937 days ago
Right, not the same as 501(c)(3), was my point exactly.
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dragonwriter 1937 days ago
501(c)s, including 501(c)(4)s, are nonprofits, so “not a nonprofit” was wrong.

501(c)(3)s are charitable organizations, so “as a charitable organization” was also wrong. But 501(c)(3)s are a subset of 501(c) and thus are also nonprofits, so your implication that they could be a registered charitable organization but not a nonprofit was also wrong.

As a 501(c)(4) they are a nonprofit and not a charitable org; if they were a 501(c)(3) they would be both.

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kgwgk 1937 days ago
Who says 501(c)(4) are not non-profits?

The 501(c)(3) are the charitable ones, by the way.

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torwayburger 1937 days ago
No. My point was that 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) are not the same thing. The important point to note in this case is: "501(c)(4) organizations may engage in unlimited lobbying in furtherance of their social welfare purposes."

"The more generous limit of non-exempt activity permissible to a 501(c)(4) explains why a 501(c)(4) organization may engage in substantial amounts of political campaign intervention activities even though the regulations make clear that such activities do not constitute the promotion of social welfare."

It's less pedantic and more: you can call a fork a spoon all you want, until you have to eat soup with it.

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kgwgk 1937 days ago
Ok, so when I said “ERCOT is a non-profit” and you replied “they're registered as a charitable organization, not a non-profit” you really didn’t mean that it was not a non-profit and your point was that it’s a 501(c)(4) non-profit which is not the same thing as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. And a spoon is not the same thing as a fork. We agree on both counts.

Edit: or maybe you were referring to hospitals? In that case you may be right and I was using the term loosely when I said “most”. There are different kinds of hospitals. My later comments were about ERCOT, not hospitals.

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