Supreme Court: Americans for Prosperity Foundation v Bonta (2021)

Americans for Prosperity Foundation v Bonta was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the disclosure of donors to non-profit organizations. The case challenges California's requirement that requires non-profit organizations to disclose the identity of their donors in the state tax returns. The case was consolidated with Thomas More Law Center v Bonta. In July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6 thru 3 decision that California's requirement burdened the donors' First Amendment rights and was not narrowly tailored, and thus invalid.

Background.

Under federal law, non-profit organizations are required to provide the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with a list of its major donors (those that donate more than $5,000 or 2% of the total donations to the non-profit in a year) with their annual tax forms, Form 990. This information, held on Schedule B "Schedule of Contributors" of Form 990, is treated as sensitive within the IRS and not shared with states unless there is a pressing need. While non-profits subsequently are required to publicly report most of their tax return, they are not required to include the Schedule B donor information in this. This was established by Congress to allow anonymous donations to non-profits.

Within California, non-profits must also renew their registration with the state annually via the state's attorney general's office. Though no state law required them to do so, in 2010 the state began requiring non-profits to include the Form 990 Schedule B with their registration or they would fail to be recertified in the state. While many non-profits complied, several argued that this was unconstitutional. While the state assured that these forms would be held in confidence, during litigation, several instances were found where over 1,800 forms were posted online for public access while others were included in material that was taken during a computer hack.