Some types of nonprofits need to do more disclosure, not less. This is particularly true of those used by not just a few politicians — members of Congress, presidential candidates, and political shills — to do campaign dirty work behind the donor- and expenditure-anonymity of the 501(c)(3) public charities. The litany of many politicians and their charities, detailed in Nonprofit Quarterly over the years,[1] highlights the need for public disclosure of donors and expenditures in charities associated with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. This now has to expand to include the charities and foundations linked to Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.

Not many voters pull the lever on presidential candidates based on their positions on charity and philanthropy. You’ll dig in vain in the current candidates’ platforms for coherent thoughts about the nonprofit sector, at best rare asides of 501(c)(3) pabulum.

But how prospective leaders of the U.S. approach their own involvements in the nonprofit sector might be windows to their attitudes and approaches to ethics and accountability, on charity and philanthropy to be sure, and maybe as applied to the operations of government itself.

With the campaign season starting so early that the primaries may be afterthoughts, it’s time to remind presidential candidates of all stripes to avoid mucking around — intentionally or not — with 501(c)(3) nonprofits in the course of their campaigns.

Our bipartisan tour of the current crop of candidates begins with America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who ranks among the most nonprofit-experienced of the current crop of candidates, and John Edwards, who spawned a couple of charities after his vice presidential run in 2004.

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