On the Threshold of Compliance: Public Charities and the Public Support Test
研究了公益慈善组织如何应对美国国税局要求至少三分之一资金来自公众的公众支持测试，发现大量组织刚好超过门槛，且这些组织更可能少报筹款费用，暗示其公众支持水平可能被歪曲。
SYNOPSIS This study investigates how public charities respond to the public support test—an IRS requirement that at least one-third of a public charity's financial support is derived from public sources. Using a large sample of 836,920 charity-year observations during 2009–2018, I find that a disproportionately large number of charities exceed the 33-1/3 percent public support threshold by a small margin. This result holds only for public charities actually subject to the test (six years of age or older) and not young charities that automatically retain public charity status. Further, I find that charities that unexpectedly just meet public support test are more likely to understate fundraising expenses. This evidence implies that the public support levels of charities that just surpass the 33-1/3 percent threshold are likely misrepresented. Overall, my findings provide new insights into a vitally important regulatory threshold that has been largely neglected in existing research. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: L31; L38; M41.