#501c6

Freedom Partners is organized under a different section of the tax code, 501(c)(6), which is typically reserved for chambers of commerce and trade groups like the American Bar Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Political activity from these groups is nothing new—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was one of the biggest spenders in the 2010 and 2012 elections—but Freedom Partners is plainly not a business association in the traditional sense; its roughly 200 donors are united by a common ideology, rather than a common industry.