TikTok Activism Explained: The Heritage Foundation and IRS Form 13909

If you’ve spent any time on your TikTok For You page or YouTube Recommendations page, you may have run across some videos about how to shut down the Heritage Foundation via the IRS.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s the rundown:

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank which authored Project 2025, a giant policy plan to put in place if Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. There’s been tons of buzz in the news about it, as folks dissect individual policy items and former President Trump attempts to distance himself from it.

With all that buzz, a few activists on social media are claiming that the Heritage Foundation is actually breaking IRS laws by drafting and promoting Project 2025. There are several creators out there calling for individuals to file form 13909 with the IRS to file an official complaint and alert them of the Heritage Foundation’s law breaking. But is the Heritage Foundation really breaking the rules? And if they are, is form 13909 the right way to go about it?  

To answer those questions, let’s dig a little further into IRS rules for nonprofits.

What is 501(c)(3) Public Charity Status?

The Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit organized in Washington DC, and it has 501(c)(3) public charity status. That means the nonprofit is organized for an “exempt purpose” approved by the IRS (it needs to be charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals). They have to follow a whole long list of laws and regulations for c3 public charities, and in return they get some major benefits, including:

1. The organization is exempt from paying federal income tax to the IRS;
2. Donors can claim tax deductions for their contributions; and,
3. The nonprofit is eligible to apply for certain grants, funding streams, and other exemptions only available to public charities.

Public Charities and Political Activities

One of the big rules for public charities is that they’re prohibited from “political activity,” especially interventions in political campaigns. So, the logic goes, isn’t the Heritage Foundation basically endorsing Donald Trump for president and violating IRS rules for c3 organizations?

Here’s the thing – the IRS doesn’t ban all nonprofits from participating in politics completely. It’s a little murkier than that.

Public charities aren’t allowed to intervene in a political campaign directly or indirectly – so that means that c3 public charities can never endorse or oppose candidates or contribute to campaign funds. But there are some things that charities can do, with limits, like:

1. Educate the public about the issues / policies
2. Hold “get out the vote” and voter education campaigns
3. Lobbying (though it must be an “insubstantial” part of their programming)

Whether a nonprofit can (or cannot) get involved in political-adjacent activities depends a LOT on the circumstances. So, if you’re a nonprofit wading into the political sphere, make sure you talk to a lawyer.

Is the Heritage Foundation Breaking IRS Rules?

With all that background information aside, let me return to the original question – is the Heritage Foundation breaking any IRS rules with Project 2025? Here’s where I give the lawyer answer – it depends.

There are just a lot of facts and circumstances we don’t know. On its face, it shouldn’t be a problem for a c3 public charity to produce educational materials about conservative policies – that’s a part of their mission. Whether or not they are directly intervening in the election depends on all the things that are happening outside the pages of the Project 2025 policy proposal.

And to make matters even more complicated, there are nonprofits with different IRS statuses who ARE allowed to be involved in politics. The Heritage Foundation has a sister organization called Heritage Action, which is a 501(c)(4) that is allowed to be involved in campaigns and lobbying. So even if there are some questionably political activities for the Heritage Foundation to participate in as a c3, it’s possible they’re actually flowing through the related c4 organization.

Unfortunately, this just isn’t the black-and-white case that the activists want it to be.

How to Report a Charity to the IRS

Let’s say you do know for sure that the Heritage Foundation (or some other nonprofit in your community) is breaking the IRS rules for public charities. What do you do?

These social media posts are calling you to file form 13909 – and they’re right! IRS form 13909 is a document you can fill out about a particular nonprofit to alert the IRS of law-breaking. The form itself seems simple, especially compared to the usual IRS gobbledygook. You enter in some details about the nonprofit and what they did wrong into a PDF, and you send it over in an email.

The social media creators are instructing people to enter like two quick sentences saying that the Heritage Foundation is involved in politics. They’re treating the form basically like a tip line, just pointing the IRS in that direction.
It sounds quick and easy…but when is ANYTHING with the IRS quick or easy?!

• What IRS regulation is being violated (literally citing the regs)
• The names and Tax ID or Social Security numbers of the entities and people involved
• Specific incidents where they violated the rules, with dates, times, locations, etc.
• Documentation or evidence of what happened

A complete 13909 form could easily have 20+ pages of additional documentation attached, if it’s going to be compelling to the IRS. And even then – we know the IRS is understaffed and overwhelmed already. There’s no guarantee they’re going to respond, but it’s especially unlikely if you don’t make it easy for them and hand over the all the evidence.

So, bottom line?

A form 13909 with two sentences on it isn’t going to sway the IRS about the Heritage Foundation or any other charity. Plus, the rules about nonprofits and politics are much more complicated than people realize. Save yourself (and the IRS workers) some time and focus your activism on other channels.

Want to hear more on this topic? Check out our conversation on episode 117 of Charity Therapy for my full take!

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Jess Birken is the owner of Birken Law Office, a firm designed to help nonprofits. Ideal Client Engagements are nonprofits looking for a strategic partner who will give pragmatic advice and keep business operations on track so the mission work stays a priority.

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