It is essential that all public charities understand the basic rules surrounding their exemption. Indeed, achieving tax-exempt status is only half the battle – once an organization has established that it is tax-exempt, it must set up the proper checks to ensure that it meets ongoing compliance obligations. Plainly, certain activities can jeopardize an organization’s tax-exempt status or subject it to penalties. Because the IRS revised its Compliance Guide for Public Charities and we are in such a highly regulatory environment, we thought it would be helpful to discuss some of the basic rules surrounding tax exemption.