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DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTSand correctly advise their supporters of the longstanding tax rules governing thedeductibility of payments made to a charitable organization in return for, or withthe expectation of, a financial or economic benefit to the payor.” 15The committee wrote that it “anticipates” that the IRS “will monitor theextent to which taxpayers are being furnished accurate and sufficient informationby charitable organizations as to the nondeductibility of payments to suchorganizations where benefits or privileges are received in return, so that suchtaxpayers can correctly compute their Federal income tax liability.” 16 Moreover,the committee expected the charitable community to do its part, noting its anticipationthat groups representing the community will “further educate theirmembers as to the applicable tax rules and provide guidance as to how charitiescan provide appropriate information to their supporters in this regard.” 17The IRS’s seriousness and intensity on this subject was revealed when, at thefinal meeting of the IRS Exempt Organization Advisory Group, on January 10,1989, then-Commissioner of Internal Revenue Lawrence B. Gibbs opened the sessionwith the charge that charities and their fundraisers are engaged in “questionable”and “egregious” fundraising practices, notably suggestions that certainpayments are deductible charitable gifts when in fact they are not. Then-AssistantCommissioner for Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations Robert I. Brauermade clear that the IRS feels that these abuses are not isolated, but are “widespreadpractices that involve quite legitimate charities.” Mr. Gibbs stated that charitiesmust “clean up their act in this regard” or face stiff regulation from the IRS. 18In 1990, the IRS issued guidelines to enable charitable organizations to properlyadvise their patrons as to the deductibility, if any, of payments made tothem when the patrons receive something in return for their payments. 19 Theseguidelines were issued as part of a program at the IRS to require charitable organizationsto disclose to donors and other payors the extent to which paymentsare deductible when a benefit or service is provided by the payor. These guidelinesare also being used by reviewing IRS agents.One of the many problems facing charitable organizations because of the disclosurerequirement is what to do about small items or other benefits that are oftoken value in relation to the amount contributed. These guidelines contain ruleswhereby a benefit can be regarded as inconsequential or insubstantial, so that thefull amount of a payment to a charity becomes deductible as a charitable gift.Under these guidelines, benefits received in connection with a payment to acharitable organization will be considered to have insubstantial fair marketvalue (so that the payment is fully deductible as a gift), for purposes of advisingdonors, whenever the following two requirements are met:• The payment occurs in the context of a fundraising campaign in whichthe charity informs patrons as to how much of their payment is a deductiblecontribution, and15 Id. at 1607–08.16 Id. at 1608.17 Id.18 The Nonprofit Counsel 7 (no. 2) (1989).19 Rev. Proc. 90-12, 1990-1 C.B. 471. 608