The acronym COPE stands for the Committee on Political Education. Its’ funds may be used to further the aims of the organization through political action. Funds can be used for canvassing, voter registration drives or getting-out-the-vote (GOTV) incentives on Election Day. There are two types of funds that can be used for political accomplishments. They are treasury funds (a.k.a. "non-federal money" or "soft money") and voluntary contributions (a.k.a. "federal money" or "hard money"). It is critically important to recognize these two unique types because of the enactment of laws governing contributions to candidates, limits on expenditures and the reporting requirements of different states. If union dues are used for campaign contributions, the Internal Revenue Services has another set of regulations controlling this usage because labor unions are exempted not-for-profit organizations. Dues money from the general fund that is used for political contributions is not exempt and is taxed at an exorbitantly high rate.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the agency of the federal government, which handles all activities dealing with campaign finance. The FEC requires labor organizations which establish political action committee’s (PACs) to register with the FEC. The complex reporting requirements mandated by the FEC make it essential that CWA-COPE PCC have only one registered PAC with the FEC. All contributions to Federal candidates and other PACs MUST come from CWA-COPE PCC located in the Headquarters office.