Donor Privacy Bills Surge In States, Increasing Bipartisan Support

States have enacted more donor privacy and disclosure legislation this year than in recent years, with the number of enacted bills increasing yearly since 2020.

Donor privacy and disclosure policy refers to legislation or regulation governing the confidentiality of nonprofit donors’ identities and/or personal information. Tax-exempt nonprofits are regulated under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. States can add their own nonprofit regulations.

“Ten related bills have become law so far in 2023 (19% of introduced bills), compared to eight in 2022 (11%), seven in 2021 (18%), and four in 2020 (9%). The number of bills enacted in states with divided government also increased this year, as did the number of Republican-sponsored bills,” said Ballotpedia. 

States with Democratic trifectas and states with Republican trifectas have enacted the same number of bills this year as last (two and four, respectively). States with divided governments have enacted four bills (7% of all bills introduced), compared to two bills in 2022 (3%).

States with divided governments enacted the following donor privacy and disclosure bills in 2023:

• NV AB52 provides that if a nonprofit library or educational foundation is a public body as defined in NRS 241.015, it is not required to disclose the name of any contributor or potential contributor to the foundation.
• VA SB1427 alters deadlines for political action committees to report contributions, including multiple contributions from a single source, which must be reported as a single contribution.
• KYSB62 prohibits a public agency from requiring an individual or nonprofit organization to compel the release of personal information, including donations to nonprofits.
• KS HB2170 provides legal recourse to donors if an agreement with a recipient charitable organization regarding an endowment fund is violated.

Republicans sponsored six enacted bills in 2023, more than the two Republican-sponsored bills enacted in 2022 and the three in both 2020 and 2021. Democrats sponsored one enacted bill in each of these years. 

“The number of enacted 2023 bills with bipartisan sponsorship decreased slightly (one) from last year (two). No bipartisan legislation was enacted in 2020 or 2021,” said Ballotpedia. 

In addition to KY SB62 and VA SB1427 (described above), Republicans sponsored the following bills enacted so far this year:

• IN HB1212 prohibits state and local agencies from collecting or disclosing information identifying donors to a nonprofit organization.
• WV SB516 establishes requirements for disclosure of donor contributions, individual contributions for independent expenditures, and contributions made for the specific purpose of electioneering communications.
• WW SB508 requires the disclosure of the names and addresses of each person contributing  $1,000 or more to a grassroots lobbying campaign.
• WY SF0040 exempts 501(c)(4) political action committees making contributions or expenditures only to federal candidates or for federal issues from contribution reporting requirements.

Produced in association with Ballotpedia

Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager