by fuga on Sat May 02, 2009 7:46 am
Michael, you don't lose your First Amendment rights. There are limits to indirect and direct lobbying that the organization can do. The speech of members of the forum will not be impacted. If RSF formally asked its members to contact a legislator on a specific actionable law or pending that, then that would be subject to restrictions but not forbidden.
The application process for a 501c3 is slow. You need to incorporate with the state first.
Fong and others, let me know if you need any advice while going through the incorporation process. I might even have an old version of the NOLO Press nonprofit incorporation book lying around here somewhere as well as sample articles of incorporation and by laws.
-pete