The D.C.-based National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy has released a report which argues that grantmaking by conservative philanthropies to increasingly politicized evangelical groups requires closer scrutiny by the IRS.

The report, Funding the Culture Wars: Philanthropy, Church and State, analyzes nearly 3,200 grants totaling $168 million made by thirty-seven foundations to seven hundred evangelical grantees from 1999 to 2002 and concludes that strategic grantmaking is being used to promote conservative positions on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, stem-cell research, and school prayer. Although churches are not required to submit Form 990, the tax form used by tax-exempt organizations to provide financial information to the federal government, the study argues that the IRS should clarify its definition of "church" to avoid shielding faith-based groups that engage in advocacy activities.

"The concern," NCRP deputy director Jeff Krehely told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "is that many religious nonprofits don't have annual tax-filing requirements with the IRS even though they are getting tax breaks and foundation grants. We think they have to be open to more public accountability."

Not everyone agrees. Mark DeMoss, head of the DeMoss Group, a public-relations firm that works with faith-based and religious organizations, scoffed at the notion that conservative tax-exempt groups are treated differently than their liberal counterparts. "Liberal foundations give to liberal charities," Demoss told the Inquirer, "and there isn't an outcry."