The IRS has received complaints that 501C's are being used to run just about every kind of off-the-books accounting fraud. In one case, the president of a non-profit organization was embezzling donations and was engaging in accounting fraud by having the NPO pay his entire apartment lease which was fraudulently booked on non-profit documents as a "business office."
When the incident was reported to the IRS, they agreed that documentation to prove the fraud existed, but that the IRS had the staff to investigate non-profit fraud solely in amounts totaling $100,000 or more.
The only way the fraud could have been stopped was to hire private attorneys to take the individual to court for fraud against the non-profit. However, the non-profit board walked away from it because they didn't have the personal resources to stop the fraud.
This is why our new congress should enact a bill making it illegal for any so called non profit to participate in any political action. Any non profit caught doing so, loses its non profit status for at least 10 years, and the directors and board members are eligible for jail terms.
Then part of the bill would be to have rigorous audits done by IRS and outside independent auditors.