West Virginia ranks #48 overall out of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions for its friendliness towards faith-based nonprofit organizations, making it one of the worst places to operate a faith-based nonprofit in the United States. West Virginia has some policies that facilitate the contributions of faith-based nonprofits, including an automatic exemption from state corporate income tax for religious organizations that have 501(c)(3) status. West Virginia, however, has several laws that are burdensome to faith-based nonprofits operating in the state, such as a lack of meaningful exemptions to state sales tax on religious organizations’ sales and purchases, a burdensome audit requirement to maintain charitable solicitation registration, and nondiscrimination laws regarding public accommodations and employment that include no meaningful exemptions for religious organizations.
The West Virginia Constitution follows in lockstep with the federal constitution’s protections, meeting but not exceeding the required minimum protections of the First Amendment (as currently interpreted by the US Supreme Court).
West Virginia has enacted a RFRA that protects the religious free exercise of all individuals and entities by requiring government burdens on religious exercise to satisfy strict scrutiny. Since the RFRA is a statute rather than a state constitutional provision, West Virginia does not receive the highest score for this factor.
West Virginia’s nondiscrimination laws generally restrict religious freedom for religious organizations that offer public programming and facilities and provide no meaningful religious accommodations or exemptions.
West Virginia’s nondiscrimination laws related to employment include no meaningful accommodations or exemptions to protect the autonomy of religious employers.
West Virginia law provides that religious worship can only be prohibited or restricted by an emergency order that applies equally to the most “essential” secular entities in the jurisdiction.
The West Virginia Constitution does not contain a Blaine Amendment but also does not expressly protect faith-based organizations’ freedom to participate in public benefit programs on the same terms as similarly situated secular institutions.
West Virginia nonprofit corporation law does not have any law deferring to religious beliefs and structures in governance matters and does not have any special provisions specific to the internal governance or operations of religious organizations.
West Virginia law permits a director, in the fulfillment of the director’s fiduciary duties, to rely only on the opinions of individuals retained by the corporation and does not expressly allow a director to rely on guidance from religious figures within his or her faith tradition.
As a condition of maintaining authorization to fundraise in the state, West Virginia requires the submission of: (a) reviewed financials for organizations with annual contributions between $200,000 and $500,000, and (b) audited financials for organizations with annual contributions of more than $500,000.
West Virginia imposes a sales and use tax on religious organizations’ purchases and only provides limited exemptions for certain subsets of religious organizations.
West Virginia imposes property tax but, upon application, generally provides an exemption to religious organizations for property used for religious and/or charitable purposes.
