RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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During President Trump\u0027s second term, Republicans have escalated their attacks on hard-to-trace fundraising methods used by left-leaning groups. Now, those efforts could force more disclosure for a project linked to Mr. Trump himself: Freedom 250, the entity behind America\u0027s 250th birthday celebration.When the Trump administration set out to plan events for America\u0027s 250th anniversary, it did not build a new charity. Instead, the National Park Foundation \u2014 a congressionally chartered nonprofit that raises money for the National Park Service \u2014 created a special subsidiary in October 2025 and established it in Delaware.\u00a0President Trump declared that Freedom 250, organized as a limited liability company, would throw America "the most spectacular birthday party you\u0027ve ever seen." The National Park Foundation received roughly $90 million in federal dollars to support the celebration, government records show. Freedom 250 separately solicited seven-figure donations from corporate sponsors, documents show, without filing any public financial disclosures of its own.This kind of lawful structure is familiar in the nonprofit world, where charities routinely house projects that lack their own tax-exempt status, an arrangement known as fiscal sponsorship \u2014 a term that does not appear in the tax code. The National Park Foundation describes Freedom 250 as a "wholly owned subsidiary" that provided the Park Service with "access to the expertise needed for planning and executing the events" for the 250th.\u00a0Freedom 250 files no tax return of its own, and money raised in its name legally belongs to the National Park Foundation. There is no standalone accounting on these disclosures of how much flowed through the project, how it was spent, or who ran it.Charities face broad public-disclosure requirements "at least in part because they are publicly supported through tax benefits," said Brian Mittendorf, an Ohio State University professor who specializes in nonprofit accounting. But while a charity must disclose that it owns an entity like Freedom 250, it is not required to break out how that project raised or spent its money, he said."There\u0027s always been this challenge for transparency," Mittendorf told CBS News.For years, Republicans have scrutinized this exact type of fundraising system, arguing that left-leaning nonprofits abused lax federal regulations while\u00a0funding allegedly partisan causes. Liberal groups have denied any impropriety.\u00a0Now, those GOP efforts have ramped up. Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill last week that would require charities to disclose fiscal sponsorship arrangements on their tax returns. And it would also impose a tax of 20% on funds deemed to have been "improperly" routed through them \u2014 rising to 100% if not corrected.Under the bill, the National Park Foundation would likely have to report certain details about its arrangement with Freedom 250 on its annual tax return, including how much money moved through it and who manages it, said Lloyd Mayer, a professor and expert on nonprofits at the University of Notre Dame\u0027s law school. The bill would fall short of requiring the foundation to list Freedom 250\u0027s individual donors.\u00a0Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threw his support behind the bill in a statement last week, saying that it "complements Treasury\u0027s work to improve transparency, strengthen tax administration, and provide clearer reporting on certain activities of tax-exempt organizations." He added that the department is "taking action to prevent nonprofit status from being used to enable or conceal fraud, abuse, and illegal extremist activity."\u00a0The Ways and Means Committee did not respond to requests for comment. The White House Press Office did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Trump supports the bill or has communicated with the Treasury Department about it."Republicans may write a definition into the tax code for fiscal sponsorship that could accidentally lump in a lot more relationships and projects within the nonprofit sector than they intended," said Sara Barba, a managing partner at Integer, LLC, who represents groups in the nonprofit sector. "There are several different types of fiscal sponsorships."Sarah Saadian, the senior vice president of public policy campaigns for the National Council of Nonprofits, which describes itself as the largest nonprofit network in the United States, said "members of Congress should realize that when they pass legislation like this it could have a really broad effect, even on projects they support."Tensions between the nonprofit sector and Republicans have heated up in recent months. The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, issued subpoenas to nonprofits connected to progressive philanthropist Neville Roy Singham \u2014 requesting details about fiscal sponsorships. Singham, who is married to Jodie Evans, the co-founder of feminist anti-war group Code Pink, is under criminal investigation by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York over whether he lied on tax forms for nonprofits he controls or may have unlawfully funneled money through them, CBS News reported in July.Smith has launched a series of probes into left-leaning nonprofits, including those funded by the progressive Swiss billionaire Hansj\u00f6rg Wyss, whose support for groups organized as fiscal sponsorships has drawn GOP scrutiny. The House panel advanced a separate bill last week that would bar nonprofits from donating to PACs for two years after receiving money from a foreign national.A spokesperson for Wyss said in a statement that the bills are "an attempt to stop nonprofits from working on issues like increasing access to health care, conserving public land, and promoting economic opportunity." The statement added that Wyss\u0027 groups "have complied with laws and rules governing our activ...
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