ACLU of Tennessee and ACLU Foundation of Tennessee:
What is the Difference?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) is comprised of two separate corporate entities: the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (“the affiliate”) and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Tennessee (“the foundation”). Although both the affiliate and foundation are part of the same overall organization, it is necessary that ACLU-TN have two separate organizations in order for the ACLU to do a broad range of work in protecting civil liberties. This website collectively refers to the two organizations under the name “ACLU-TN.”

Although there is some overlap in the work done by each organizational arm of ACLU-TN, certain activities ACLU-TN does to protect civil liberties must be done by one arm and not the other. For example, ACLU-TN 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 our foundation may engage in lobbying activities. Therefore, the legislative lobbying activities of ACLU-TN discussed on this website are done by the ACLU-TN affiliate. By contrast, ACLU-TN’s litigation, public education (events and publications), and advocacy activities described in this website are done by the ACLU-TN foundation.

You may make a contribution to either the ACLU-TN affiliate, the ACLU-TN 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-TN mission. A donor who chooses to "Give" may make a tax-deductible gift only to the ACLU-TN Foundation. A donor who chooses to “Join” and become a card-carrying member of ACLU-TN is making a contribution to the ACLU-TN affiliate. Membership dues and other gifts to the ACLU-TN affiliate are not tax deductible.