|
Below is the
statement:
The ANCA Endowment Fund, Inc.
would like to address allegations recently
raised against it by Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
a purported citizens' watchdog organization
based in Washington, D.C. Specifically, CREW
has accused the ANCA Endowment Fund of having
"indirectly participated in countless
candidate endorsements" that were made by the
ANCA Endowment Fund's affiliated 501(c) (4)
organization, the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA) The only basis for CREW's
accusation is that the ANCA Endowment Fund and
the ANCA occupy the same address and share
certain common directors, and that the ANCA
Endowment Fund made grant contributions to the
ANCA totaling $200,000 in 2005 and 2006.
The ANCA Endowment Fund is quite disappointed
that CREW has accused the ANCA Endowment Fund
of engaging in prohibited political activity
based on incomplete and misleading
information. It is more than curious that its
baseless attacks were made just prior to
renewed efforts by the ANCA to advance
Congressional and Presidential acknowledgement
of the Armenian Genocide.
As a fundamental, threshold matter, the ANCA
Endowment Fund does not and has not ever
endorsed candidates or engaged in political
campaign activity, whether directly or
indirectly. The fact that the ANCA Endowment
Fund and the ANCA occupy the same address and
share certain common directors is neither
proscribed under IRS rules nor sufficient
under the law to attribute to the ANCA
Endowment Fund the political activities of the
ANCA or to threaten the ANCA Endowment Fund's
tax-exempt status.
On the contrary, it has been a longstanding
position of the IRS and of the U.S. Supreme
Court that a 501(c)(3) organization's
tax-exempt status is not jeopardized simply by
being affiliated with a 501(c)(4) organization
engaged in political activity that would be
improper for the 501(c)(3) to engage in
itself. This is true even if the 501(c)(3)
occupies the same office space and shares the
same directors as the 501(c)(4). What is
important is not where the organizations are
located or how many of their directors are
common, but whether they have observed their
separate corporate formalities and dealt with
each other at arm's length. There should be no
legitimate dispute that the ANCA Endowment
Fund and the ANCA have done so here, as
demonstrated by the following relevant facts:
* the ANCA
Endowment Fund is (and always has been)
separately organized and incorporated from
the ANCA;
* the ANCA
Endowment Fund maintains its own records and
bank accounts separate and apart from those
of the ANCA; funds of each organization have
always been segregated from each other and
properly accounted for;
* the ANCA Endowment Fund owns the building
located at 1711 N Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036 at which its offices are
maintained;
* the ANCA Endowment Fund rents office space
within that 1711 N Street building to
various other organizations, of which only
one is the ANCA, and does so at market rates
for all of its tenants; and
* the ANCA Endowment Fund and the ANCA pay
for their own share of common costs, which
are allocated to each in proportionately
appropriate amounts.
In short, the ANCA Endowment Fund and the ANCA
have consistently observed their own corporate
formalities and dealt with each other at arms'
length. We believe this fact pattern leaves no
basis for the ANCA Endowment Fund's tax-exempt
status to be threatened merely because it has
some overlapping directors and the same
address as the ANCA. Had CREW had the courtesy
to inquire about the actual facts, it would
have readily been able to ascertain that its
allegations were baseless. Perhaps it did not
want to be burdened by the facts.
As for CREW's other complaint that the ANCA
Endowment Fund made grants to the ANCA
totaling $200,000 in 2005 and 2006, we believe
that complaint is similarly misguided. There
is no prohibition on the ANCA Endowment Fund's
making grants to the ANCA for proper purposes,
and no group or individual has come forward
with any specific example of any grant by the
ANCA Endowment Fund to the ANCA made for any
allegedly improper purpose. By contrast, we at
the ANCA Endowment Fund stand firmly behind
our 2005 and 2006 grants to the ANCA, which
were made principally to fund the ANCA's
Capital Gateway Program, which is designed to
promote the participation of qualified
Armenians in national civic affairs, a purpose
entirely consistent with 501(c)(3) activity.
We hope that this information addresses any
concerns you may have had arising from the
recent CREW allegations, and that it reaffirms
your confidence in us.
As always, we thank you for your continued
support of the ANCA Endowment Fund.
|