Our ongoing series on 501(c)(3) denials continues with not one but two rulings addressing a frequent topic of discussion: open source software development as a tax-exempt activity.

(A denial letter also came out for a rodeo that wants to be a 501(c)(3), but as a San Francisco-based attorney, I talk to a lot more open-source applicants than I do rodeos.)

I often make the comment about practicing non-profit law that it is hard to give advice and get people to listen to it when it feels like the regulators are not minding the store. I even wrote a blog about it for my prior firm in the context of exemption applications.

Every once in a while though, the IRS breaks its silence, says ‘no’ to a non-profit, and people like me try to gather the scraps and learn something from it.

To that end, I thought it might be useful or entertaining to start a series on IRS Denial Rulings. They are somewhat rare and so redacted that it is hard to make any sense of them, but they are all that the tax gods are willing to offer us. So, we must make of them what we can and draw overbroad conclusions.

Let’s get started with PLR 202127040 (aka the Case of the Anime Convention That Was Apparently Too Fun).

I will not pretend to be the most diligent follower of legislative developments and Supreme Court cases. It is important, no doubt, but I excuse myself based on my limited reserve of emotional energy to allocate to disappointment. It probably never has been, but the current state of affairs is not a source of inspiration. No award-winning musicals will be made of one Senator’s quest to save the filibuster at the apparent expense of democracy (though admittedly “Manchin!” sounds like a more interesting writing project than this blog). There will be no prestige historical drama about the conquest of the American judiciary by the Federalist Society.

But as the keeper of a non-profit legal blog, I have an obligation to briefly (and perhaps cynically) address two big developments from the past month: The ACE Act and Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta.

Where there is money, there are lawyers and consultants. And where there are lawyers and consultants, there are acronyms, deployed like they are words that everyone knows.

There is a lot of money flowing around the impact investment sector. Therefore, it can be very easy for non-profits, and especially private foundations, to get lost in a sea of letters when they want to invest in a manner that advances their charitable purposes. There’s only so much a blog post can do, but let’s see if we can unpack four of the big acronyms.

When planning this firm, one of the first things I did was write a first draft of this blog post. I find that if you leave behind a great and established boutique firm to start your own firm from scratch, it can be helpful to journal.

To that end, I thought I would lead with some "frequently” (i.e not-yet) asked questions about Mill Law Center, what lies ahead, and what I hope to achieve here.