Quite a bit to beware of in the business of not only fundraising, but even simply speaking to a group. Certain kinds of groups, at least.
Case in point here is Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi's talk this week to a group once called the Christian Businessmen's Connection, currently Connecting Business and the Marketplace with Christ. (You get the idea either way.) Rossi spoke to them at a Wednesday luncheon.
Catch, according to the Tacoma News Tribune's political blog, is that the group is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, around which the law is quite restrictive when it comes to politics. The ban says they are "absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office." Even if no money was raised for a candidate.
The blog quoted Daniel Borochoff, president of American Institute of Philanthropy, as saying, "Yeah, they're not supposed to be doing that."