Some interns fetch coffee. Others do factchecking. Interns at the Center for Responsive Politics collect 990 forms.

Well, we do other things, too. But last month, CRP interns pounded the pavement all around the DC metropolitan area in pursuit of IRS 990 tax forms filed by politically active nonprofits. The information they contain is critical to OpenSecrets Blog’s investigations of these dark money groups, and is the backbone of the political nonprofits data that CRP creates from the filings.

These groups — 501(c)(4) social welfare groups and 501(c)(6) trade associations — aren’t supposed to devote the majority of their resources to politics, and they’re not required to reveal the names of their donors. In fact, unlike most other organizations involved in politics, they don’t have to give much information at all to the Federal Election Commisson during the time they’re running ads asking viewers to vote one way or another. It’s only many months after the end of their fiscal years — and after the elections — that they must send their somewhat more detailed annual 990 forms to the IRS.

Nearly 100 of them were due to file their 990s in November, and we had to be ready to get copies. We began by creating a simple database of nonprofits’ names and their respective tax ID numbers, filling in contact info, addresses and names of the groups’ officers. After four days we had an extensive 16 column fact sheet. Most of our information was gathered from earlier 990s, though we used whatever sources we could.

For each organization we prepared a form 4506-A, or “Request for Public Inspection or Copy of Exempt or Political Organization IRS Form,” to be sent to the IRS. Since the agency doesn’t maintain a searchable database of filed 990s, this form asks for paper copies to be sent by mail within 30 to 60 days.

Then came November 15th — a huge filing deadline for some of the most active nonprofits. That morning, we called a list of those in Washington, D.C. and Virginia to schedule a pick-up. Section 6104 of the U.S. Code requires that the documents be made available for in-person inspection upon request.

The experience of collecting these forms was a mixed bag. Some organizations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, and the American Chemistry Council, were cooperative. They told us when the forms would be available and who to contact for copies. Other groups, like the American Petroleum Institute and American Commitment, simply emailed copies of their tax forms to us right away.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

In other cases, we’d go to a group’s office address only to be told that it was no longer there, as was the case with Crossroads GPS and Patriot Majority. In Patriot Majority’s case, CRP staff contacted Craig Varoga — the group’s president — and its lawyer multiple times by phone, email, and formal letter, but it would take the organization weeks to respond, and then only to say that the documents would eventually be made available. At one point, we went to the lawyer’s office to pick up a copy of the document, but the security guard said we couldn’t go up without an appointment — difficult to arrange since the attorney didn’t respond to phone calls and emails.

As with Patriot Majority, some other groups didn’t have offices. In our first attempt to claim American Future Fund’ s 990 — which reported more than $25 million in outside spending in 2012 — one research intern asked his cousin in Iowa to go to AFF’s address in Des Moines. She found a UPS mailbox AFF, like Patriot Majority, wouldn’t respond to CRP’s phone calls and formal letters, so our staff got in touch with the group’s lawyer. He told us that AFF would provide the documents by mail within the time frame laid out in IRS regulations. We emphasized that we would gladly accept emailed or faxed copies of the documents — surely $68 million in revenues gets you a scanner or a fax machine. If they insisted on mailing hard copies, we pointed out that Treasury regulations require quicker responses for groups without permanent offices.

After we’d waited weeks, AFF’s 990 arrived in the mail — sent not from Iowa, but from the Virginia offices of its lawyer — on the last possible day it could be given to us without violating IRS regulations.

AFF and Patriot Majority certainly weren’t the only groups that played the waiting game with us. Ultimately, though, we received the documents from most of the groups. That’s lucky, since the IRS has yet to respond to any of the dozens of 4506-a requests we submitted more than 30 days ago.

OpenSecrets Blog wrote a series of stories showing, among other things, that AFF drew more than 92 percent of its 2012 revenue from organizations connected to the billionaire conservatives David and Charles Koch, and that Patriot Majority received almost half of its 2012 revenue from 6 unknown donors.

As interns, we also found out that Metro’s blue line to Alexandria often breaks down, and that some nonprofits will charge an $18 copying fee or ask for a copy of CRP’s 990, which is posted here along with its financial statements.

The process of collecting 990s was a unique, frustrating and eye-opening experience for all of us interns. There has to be a better way, though it’s not clear that the IRS’ proposed new regulations for politically active nonprofits will address the issue of access. But in the end, we helped shed light on dark money groups.

And no one ever asked us to get coffee.



Colleen Stevenson was an intern for CRP during the fall semester of 2013.

Image via Flickr user Scott Witt.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]



