Nonprofit News Outlets Face Long Waits for IRS Approval

When SF Public Press, a nonprofit news organization in San Francisco, applied to the Internal Revenue Service for a tax exemption in January 2010, its founder, Michael Stoll, thought the bid would be a “slam dunk.” He says he had studied IRS rules, and his group seemed to fit all of the federal requirements of a charity: It publishes only public-interest journalism, does not endorse political candidates, operates mostly with volunteers on a shoestring budget, and does not accept advertising or resemble a commercial operation in any other way. “We’ve played it by the book,” he says. SF Public Press­ was started by journalists to fill what they saw as a void in serious local reporting as financially strapped for-profit newspapers have cut back coverage. But it has been waiting more than 21 months to get an IRS decision. It is not the only nonprofit news operation in that situation. The Lens, an online investigative newsroom in New Orleans, says it applied for charity status more than a year ago and has still not received word. And the Investigative News Network, a membership group that represents 60 nonprofit “watchdog” media outlets, has been waiting since July 2010 to hear whether its application has been approved.