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• Author: Bruce R. Hopkins
• Profession: Leading authority on the law of tax-exempt organizations
• Pages: 457-463

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wage

Theword“wage”meanscompensation paid to an individual, often by the day or week, for

services rendered. The word is usually used in connection with work that is manual or menial

labor. (cf. Salary).

wager

The word “wager” means to place a bet (that is, to stake money and/or property on an uncer-

tain event) or otherw ise to gamble; it also means t he amount that is staked to the gamble.

It is com mon fo r nonprot organizations to sponsor wagering events, often in the n ame of

fundraising. These events include gamesof bing o,raes,andsweepstakes.Insomeinstances,

an activity of this natureconstitutes an unrelated trade or business.

waiting period

A “waiting period” is a period of time that, by law, must expire before a person can lawfully

pursue a right achieved by contract.Theselawsfocusprincipallyonsales of merchandise on

a door-to-door basis; they are underlain with the view that an eloquent (slick) salesperson can

cause a consumer who cannot aord the item being sold to nonetheless agree to purchase it. A

waiting period is thus imposed as a form of consumer protection (a “cooling o” period), to

enable the purchaser to rethink the merits of the transaction before consummating it. Under

this approach,the right obtained by contract cannot take eect until expiration of the waiting

period. A charitable solicitation act mayembodythisapproach,statingthatagift solicitation

cannot havelegal eect until expiration of a waitingperiod. [FR §3.3].

waiver

A “waiver” occurs when a person voluntarily relinquishes a right.Usually,theprocedureor

conditions under which a waiver may take place are determined in advance.

The concept of a waiver is us ed in connection with the lobbying disallowance rule and the

political activities disallowance rule,asitappliestomembership organizations. These rules

contain an exception from the proxy tax,whichisthatanorganization is not subject to the

disclosure requirements of these rules or the proxy tax if it establishes to the satisfaction of

the IRS that substantially all of the dues monies it receives are paid by members who arenot

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

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