American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska Foundation: What is the Difference?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (“ACLU”) is comprised of two separate corporate entities, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (“Union”) and American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska Foundation (“Foundation”).

Although both the Union and Foundation are part of the same overall organization, it is necessary that the ACLU have two separate organizations in order for the ACLU to do a broad range of work in protecting civil liberties. This web site collectively refers to the two organizations under the name “American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska," “ACLU,” or “ACLU of Alaska."

Although there is some overlap in the work done by each organization, certain activities the ACLU does to protect civil liberties must be done by one organization and not the other. This is primarily in the area of lobbying. The ACLU engages in legislative lobbying. As an organization that is eligible to receive contributions that are tax-deductible by the contributor, federal law limits the extent to which the Foundation may engage in lobbying activities. Therefore, most of the lobbying activity done by the ACLU and discussed in this web site is done by the Union. By contrast, most of the ACLU's litigation and communication efforts described in this web site are done by the Foundation.

You may make a contribution to either the Union or the Foundation, or both. A contribution to either organization will be used to support, promote and defend civil liberties. However, each organization will only use the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the specific activities it conducts as part of the overall ACLU mission.

A donor may make a tax-deductible gift only to the Foundation. A donor who chooses to "Join" and become a card-carrying member of the ACLU is making a contribution to the Union. Membership dues and other gifts to the Union are not tax deductible.