Hey guys, I have questions about campaign and political laws. If someone can help me here that would be great, but I would also be very appreciative of any recommendations for conservative accountants or lawyers I can contact.
I'm starting an organization that will provide pro-bono digital marketing, graphic design, SEO, and social media management services to candidates running against RINOs and democrats in their state and local elections. There will primarily be volunteers helping out with the work, but I'm sure some contractors/freelancers might need to be hired at some point in time. Because of that, I'll also most likely be accepting donations at some point in time too.
My issue is, I'm not sure exactly how to set up the organization. I've tried researching this but it's tough to find information specifically for digital services and for donating services. Can I set it up as a super PAC and be fine? Can an organization donate services and digital goods to campaigns or will I need to charge something like $1? How should things be set up for tax purposes? Would a separate LLC or similar be required? I'm out of my element when it comes to taxes and campaign law. Ideally, I would rather not end up in prison. Any advice or recommendations will greatly be appreciated!
Contact Matt Braynard. He'll help you get set up with all of that.
I tried to but haven't heard back. To be very fair, he is extremely busy and the work he's doing is too important to take time away from. Really appreciate the recommendation though!
Is this who you contacted? https://lookaheadamerica.org/#mission
https://media1.giphy.com/media/ddo1gTmO2DOZHu4BDt/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e471wo21a658ur9hgq75w6ehnpckpldakw7lrgjuz12&rid=giphy.gif
It's still a service and counts as a campaign contribution, unless you have Democrat Privilege. Sucks, but that's the way it is.
I am not an election lawyer, but here is my understanding - If it is all purely volunteer, you are on terra firma. If you hire people to directly aid a candidate, that counts as a contribution. If you create a superpac, you can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money, but in theory, you are not supposed to be working directly with candidates. So you could make ads that promote an issue, like say gun rights, but a superpac couldn't make an ad endorsing a candidate.