As someone who started my career in the for-profit world and has now served the nonprofit sector for decades, I find that there’s quite a lot of confusion among audiences throughout Oklahoma regarding what makes a nonprofit… well, not-for-profit. A nonprofit is simply a business that has been designated with a special tax status by the Internal Revenue Service because their operation is deemed to serve the public good. In many cases, nonprofits actually provide social services to citizens on behalf of government entities. Via this IRS designation, nonprofits are generally exempt from paying federal income tax. When you hear that nonprofits are “tax exempt,” this is the tax exemption being referenced. There are no guaranteed or automatic exemptions on state or local taxes – those matters are governed independently at the state and local levels. In Oklahoma, nonprofits are not automatically sales tax exempt. The time to change this has come. State Representatives Marilyn Stark and Suzanne Schreiber recently hosted an interim study to explore the impact an automatic sales tax exemption for nonprofits with gross annual revenues of $3 million or smaller may have on Oklahoma. I was pleased to be asked to join the conversation along with experts and other nonprofit leaders from across the state. Nonprofits today are operating in the same space with the same challenges as for-profit businesses – in addition to needing to make payroll and keep the lights on, we are seeing the impacts of skyrocketing inflation, tariffs and more. We are also seeing these and other factors increase charitable need among the Oklahomans the sector serves. When nonprofits see increased demand for their goods and services, this doesn’t mean more sales and money in the bank but rather a requirement of more outputs to provide more goods and services. More demand means higher cost. With all the challenges facing the nonprofit sector this year related to funding and operations, too many have had to pull back on services and staffing while others are looking at consolidation or even dissolution. While one could look at these changes coldly and factually as natural market fluctuations, the truth is that the loss of nonprofit services have very real – sometimes even life and death – impacts for our Oklahoma neighbors. This fact affects us all. Now is the time finally to offer sales tax relief to nonprofits. Every dollar saved goes back into the mission, not only because we want it to but – as nonprofits – it has to! Sales tax exemptions are available in Oklahoma for multiple for-profit industries (and, for the record, a few nonprofits have exceptions). However, an automatic sales tax exemption – especially one designated for the smaller nonprofits that need it most – is neither innovative nor untested. Based on self-reporting, there are at least 26 states that offer some form of blanket nonprofit sales tax exemption at the state level. Some of these are in our region. Oklahoma has spent years doing a great job of signaling to for-profit industries that our state is open for business; a rising tide raises all boats. Let’s strike that same attitude for nonprofits and show the sector that Oklahoma is open for nonprofit business, too, in order to provide a safety net for the Oklahomans who need it most. As I always say, we are stronger together!