Marijuana Policy Project

“Anyone who donates $5 or more to MPP or the MPP PAC is considered to be a "member" of MPP for 365 days after the date of the donation.”

“"Members" of MPP are eligible to vote in the once-every-three-years election of the member-elected director of the board.”

“In 2013, MPP had one affiliate -- the "Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol" in Alaska. This is simply a ballot-initiative committee, as registered with the Alaska state government; the committee does not have an IRS tax status. MPP employed one staffer in Anchorage, so the staffer simply abided by the rules and guidelines that MPP uses for MPP's national organization, which has employees scattered across the country. In addition, the finances of the Alaska campaign were managed by the MPP staff in the D.C. headquarters.”

“This Form 990 was meticulously reviewed by the board's treasurer -- as well as submitted to the entire board of directors -- before it was filed with the IRS.”

“MPP's documents are maintained in the organization's headquarters in the District of Columbia; the MPP staff mails the documents to interested persons via the U.S. Postal Service. In addition, MPP posts its Form 990 on the organization's Web site, as well as third-party Web sites. Finally, MPP also posts its annual report on its Web site.”

“In 2013, MPP launched a signature drive in Alaska to place an initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol on either the August or November 2014 ballot.”

“After legalizing marijuana in Colorado in November 2012, MPP spent a greatly reduced amount of money in Colorado in 2013 to implement the new state law.”

“These expenses are broken into six categories -- a petitioning firm to place MPP's legalization initiative onto the Alaska ballot ($92,000), a consulting firm in Alaska ($36,390), a consultant in Minnesota who's working to pass a medical-marijuana bill through the Minnesota Legislature ($9,000), an hourly consultant in Chicago who helps MPP with mundane fundraising/database tasks ($8,465), a consultant who lays out various publications for MPP ($1,910), and temps who stuff envelopes in MPP's D.C. headquarters ($1,386).”

“The figure of $644 is just a "fudge factor" so that the figures in Part XI add up correctly.”