An update on our structure - and the best ways to support our work
At the beginning of the new year, we wanted to provide a quick update about Seamless Bay Area’s structure and name, as well as a guide to the best ways to support our charitable and educational work and our political advocacy and lobbying activities.
Some of you may have noticed some updates to the donation pages of our website, or on your donation receipts. Those wishing to make a tax-deductible donation are now directed to donate to the Seamless Bay Area Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization. Those who want to support our political advocacy and lobbying efforts as well as our educational and charitable work - but don’t mind their donation not being tax-deductible - are now directed to donate to Seamless Bay Area, which is now a 501(c)(4).
Here is an overview of these affiliated organizations:
What does this mean? In terms of the work we’re doing, not much of anything: we’re continuing to fight for the very same objectives we always have. But for those who care, we want to share why we’ve made this organizational shuffle.
First, a bit of history.
Back in 2017, Seamless Bay Area was nothing but a group of people passionate about the future of Bay Area transportation, meeting regularly and strategizing about how to make change. We really had no idea we’d have so much impact, so quickly. We soon found it necessary to formalize the group. In 2019, we incorporated a 501(c)(3) non-profit, the organization which came to be known as “Seamless Bay Area.” For those not familiar, 501(c)(3) is the formal designation the IRS gives under the tax code to organizations that conduct charitable work. Such organizations are limited to doing only a small amount of lobbying work in addition to their charitable activities. “Lobbying” isn’t a term with a great reputation, but technically it just means any contact we might have with an elected representative or their staff. In the early days, we did relatively little of this, and so didn’t have to worry about legal limits.
That all started to change early in 2020. After a hectic 18 months of grassroots work, we worked with Assemblymember David Chiu’s office to sponsor AB 2057, a groundbreaking bill that would have put the Bay Area on a fast track to a seamless, world-class regional transit system. Our charitable work continued, of course, but our lobbying work was growing.
Enter “Seamless Bay Area Action Fund.” We incorporated this organization in early 2020 as an affiliated 501(c)(4) entity. A 501(c)(4) is the IRS designation for organizations that are non-profit, allowed to conduct unlimited amounts of lobbying work, but cannot offer tax deductions on donations. The existence of this organization allowed us to safely conduct the additional lobbying activities needed to support AB 2057, while also continuing our charitable work through the 501(c)(3). But as you might have guessed, keeping things straight between two affiliated entities -- one doing charitable work, the other lobbying -- can be complex and challenging, especially as we anticipate that the amount of contact we’ll have with legislators and their staff is only going to grow in the coming months and years. When it comes down to it, we’re still just a small group of passionate mostly-volunteers trying to make change, and we needed to make sure our organizational structure was efficient as well as legal.
So what are these changes, and why do they matter?
We changed the name of “Seamless Bay Area Action Fund,” our affiliated 501(c)(4) entity, to “Seamless Bay Area,” and made it the parent organization for all the work we do. This keeps our operations simple, lean, and legal. Any donations direct to this organization may be used for lobbying or charitable/educational purposes, but are not tax-deductible.
The 501(c)(3) is now called “Seamless Bay Area Alliance.” Tax-deductible donations can be made to this organization, and these monies can only and will only be used for charitable and educational purposes.
In summary, we made these changes to ensure that we can continue to grow the organization and the impact we have, while maintaining strict and legal separation between our lobbying and our charitable activities. Our mission remains the same: to fight for a seamless, world-class regional transit system for the Bay Area. We hope you’ll continue to fight along with us!
If you want to discuss any of these changes in more detail, don’t hesitate to reach out: info@seamlessbayarea.org.