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One of the country's leading civil rights groups is in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS says the Southern Christian Leadership Conference hasn't filed financial reports for several years.
From member station WABE in Atlanta, Charles Edwards has the story.
CHARLES EDWARDS: When Martin Luther King Jr. headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 40 years ago, it was a key civil rights organization. But after his assassination, the SCLC began to lose its reputation. Funding and membership declined.
SCLC's general counsel, Dexter Wimbish, says people wrote them off.
Mr. DEXTER WIMBISH (General Counsel, Southern Christian Leadership Conference): The general consensus was the organization was dead a few years ago.
EDWARDS: SCLC bought a new headquarters building in downtown Atlanta. But mounting debt and internal strife hurt the organization. The group's president, Charles Steele, a former Alabama state senator, began to raise money. And Wimbish says they've collected more than $6 million since 2003.
Mr. WIMBISH: And for Dr. Steele to be able to convince a number of corporate sponsors that SCLC has an international vision, and convince them that, you know, you should support SCLC, is incredible.
EDWARDS: While the group was finding money, it wasn't filing tax reports with the Internal Revenue Service. IRS spokesman Mark Green says nonprofits can get in trouble for not filing.
Mr. MARK GREEN (Spokesman, Internal Revenue Service): And of course, we may be pressured into taking additional actions and steps, which may include suspending or revoking one's status, especially in the exempt arena.
EDWARDS: But Dexter Wimbish says the IRS should have the tax forms in 45 days.
Mr. WIMBISH: You know, in the end, when those documents are made available and it's shown that the funds are being correctly administered, then my question would be okay, what's the story then?
EDWARDS: Wimbish hopes the SCLC can then return to fighting for labor rights, helping low-income residents and preventing gang violence.
For NPR News, I'm Charles Edwards in Atlanta.