Public policy news and updates for the philanthropic sector

July 24, 2026

What's Happening This Week...

• Happening at the Council
• What We're Tracking in DC
• Additional Updates

Happening at the Council

Upcoming Policy and Advocacy Trainings

We're offering two upcoming trainings — one designed for community foundation staff and the other designed for private and corporate foundation staff — that will help you get started with insights on funding vehicles that support advocacy, how to build relationships to advance advocacy, legal explainers, and more.

Register for Advocacy Essentials for CFs (August 25, 27)

Register for Essentials of Policy Advocacy (September 15, 17)

What We're Tracking in DC

Ways and Means Markup of Legislation Impacting Nonprofits

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Ways and Means held a markup of four bills that impact the tax-exempt sector. The Council opposed three of the bills:

• The Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act (H.R.9721/S.5083), which would create a new definition of fiscal sponsorship arrangements and require detailed reporting on each of a nonprofit’s fiscally sponsored projects. It also includes penalties for improper conduit arrangements.
• The Foreign Funding Transparency Act (H.R.9772), legislation that would require nonprofits to report aggregate donations from foreign nationals on their Form 990, as well as donations from each foreign country of concern.
• The Stopping Foreign Influence in Elections Act (H.R.9771), which would bar 501(c) organizations that have received donations from foreign nationals from contributing to political entities in the two years following those donations. It also defines political committees and 501(c)(4)s as political entities.

The Committee approved all three of these bills along party lines, along with the Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act (H.R.9722). Ahead of the markup, we released a letter detailing our concerns with the Committee. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) entered the letter into the record, which was noted by other members, along with some of our concerns, during the markup.

Overall, the markup highlighted disagreements between committee members on both sides of the aisle. Republicans discussed continued concerns around foreign nationals using American nonprofits to obscure political influence, as well as a lack of transparency in fiscal sponsorship arrangements. Democrats raised the undue administrative burden these bills would cause as well as potential harms to civil society.

To become law, the full House and Senate must both pass these bills. As of Friday morning, only one of them—the Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act—has been introduced in the Senate. We continue to monitor all legislative activity that impacts the tax-exempt sector and will share further updates in Snapshot.

Please reach out to govt@cof.org to share how these bills might impact your work or with any questions.

Additional Updates

• Last week, the State Department hosted a Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made remarks reiterating the agency’s focus on investigating nonprofits and charitable organizations that are associated with the illicit financing of political terrorism and foreign influenced activities. Secretary Bessent did not announce any new initiatives, but he did emphasize the Administration’s efforts to identify organizations misusing tax-exempt status and investigate organizations that fund or enable violence.
• Last week, the Council submitted comments on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed regulations on the Uniform Guidance for federal financial assistance. We outlined how the proposed regulations would inhibit foundations and nonprofits from accessing federal funding and offered recommendations that would ensure continued flexibility in the federal grantmaking process.

Keep in Touch!

Please feel free to reach out to any of us on the Public Policy Team with comments or concerns, or to share an issue, article, event, or op-ed you would like to see covered in a future Washington Snapshot.

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