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• Author: Bruce R. Hopkins
• Profession: Leading authority on the law of tax-exempt organizations
• Pages: 199-205

H

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halo effect

The“haloeect”isthenameinformallygiventothepositiveimageandaurasurrounding

nonprot organizations,particularlycharitable ones, in the marketplace, causing consumers

of goods and services to prefer to purchase them from nonprot organizationsdue to the level

of trust they engender. (also Contract failure;Level playing eld).

hamartia

A “hamartia” is a defect of character, rising to the level of a signicant error or even a sin. A

courtheldthatadonor’s charitable contribution d eduction was not available because the

gift was not accompanied by a qualied appraisal. One of the defects in the appraisal report

was that the report re ected an appraisal of property other than the contributed property. The

lawyer fort he donorargued that “albeit” for that error,the appraisal met the legal requirements.

The court rejoined: “That’s not a tiny albeit; it’s a hamartia—it represents the actual property

interest contributed.”[C G §21.5(a)].

harassment campaign

A group of requests for a tax-exempt organization’s application for recognition of exemption

and/or annual information returns is indicative of a “harassment campaign”if the requests are

part of a single co ordinated eort to disrupt the operat ions of the organization. [EO §28.10(f );

HC §35.5(a)(vi); FR §5.9(i); CU Q 18.13; RE Q 8.22; SM p. 124].

harassment campaign exception

Atax-exempt organization is generally required to make available for inspection and is

required to disseminate copies of its application for recognition of exemption and its th ree

most recent annual information returns (IRC §6104(d)). If, however, the IRS determines

that the organization is the subject of a harassment campaign and that compliance with

requests that are part of that campaign would not be in the public interest, the organiza-

tion is not required to f ulll a request th at it reasonably believes is part of the campaign

(IRC §6104(d)(4)). This rule is the “harassment campaign exception.” [EO §28.10(f); HC

§35.5(a)(vi); FR §5.9(i); CU Q 18.13; RE Q 8.22; SM p. 124].

Bruce R. Hopkins’ Nonprot Law Dictionary, First Edition. Bruce R. Hopkins.

©2015 Bruce R. Hopkins. Published 2015 by John Wiley& S ons,Inc.