The Democratizing Role of the Public Support Test in the Determination of Nonprofits’ Public Charity Status

Abstract

The “public support test” is a set of provisions in the Internal Revenue Code determinative of public charity status for 85% of public charities (excluding houses of worship), requiring that at least one third of these nonprofits’ revenue come from the public broadly, government sources, or nonprofit funding intermediaries. Despite its importance in defining much of the nonprofit sector’s boundaries, no previous research describes the extent and sources of charities’ public support or how these vary by nonprofit subsector, size, and age. This article fills this knowledge gap based on analysis of 501(c)(3) public charities’ Form 990 and Form 990EZ data, finding most publicly supported charities greatly exceed the minimum public support requirements, but with wider variation in directness and breadth than “public support” might connote.