Nonprofit profile: 60 Plus Association

Introduction

Type of organization: 501(c)(4)

Employer Identification Number: 54-1564919

Supports: Republican candidates

Founded: 1992

Location: Alexandria, Va.

Website: 60plus.org

Social media: Facebook page, Twitter profile, YouTube channel

Finances:

For the group’s fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010:

• Total Revenue: $16 million
• Total Expenses: $15.5 million
• Net assets: -$236,000

IRS Form 990 filing: 2009

Principals:

• Amy Noone Frederick (president): Noone Frederick won the 2011 Buckley Award from the Young Conservatives Coalition as a top conservative movement leader under age 40. She has been president since 2010.
• Jim Martin (chairman): A longtime opponent of the estate tax; credited with popularizing the term “death tax.” Manager/pitcher for a top 10 national senior softball team called the Saints and Sinners.

Profile:

Seen as the conservative alternative to the AARP, the 60 Plus Association calls itself a “nonpartisan seniors advocacy group with a free enterprise, less government, less taxes approach to seniors issues.” The nonprofit cites “ending the federal estate tax and saving Social Security for the young” as its top priorities. The group, which claims 7 million members nationwide, touts singer Pat Boone as a spokesman. Boone himself railed against “Obamacare” on Fox Business in March and appears in several of the organization’s ads.

While the 60 Plus Association’s status as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit means it is not required to publicly reveal its donors, the Center for Responsive Politics discovered past donors have included the shadowy Center to Protect Patients Rights (at $8.9 million), as well as smaller amounts from Crossroads GPS, the American Petroleum Institute and Alliance for America’s Future.

In 2010, the group put money into 52 congressional campaigns, exclusively opposing Democratic candidates. The 60 Plus Association devoted the most money — $639,900 — to defeating Rep. John Boccieri, D-Ohio, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In 2011, the 60 Plus Association supported Republican Jane Corwin, who lost a special election to represent New York’s 26th District, in what many saw as a referendum on GOP House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal that would have dramatically changed Medicare and created a voucher system.

During the 2012 election cycle, the group spent more than $4.4 million on independent expenditures that expressly advocated for the election or defeat of candidates. The group’s spending exclusively touted Republicans or criticized Democrats.

Among its expenditures was a TV ad campaign launched in August in Florida, Ohio and Montana featuring mid-century pop icon Pat Boone. The ads targeted Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

See more data on 60 Plus Association at OpenSecrets.org.

Advertisements:

• Targeting Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., for supporting the stimulus bill and the health care law.” The ad urged viewers to tell Nelson to “stop the wasteful spending” and provided his D.C. office telephone number to call.
• A June ad pinned an $11 trillion increase in the national debt to the tenure of Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. It also criticized the senator for supporting the bank and auto bailouts, the stimulus bill and Obama’s healthcare law.
• A series of ads featuring singer Pat Boone railed against the Affordable Care Act.
• For more ads, see 60 Plus Association’s YouTube channel.

Last updated: Jan. 22, 2013