Thursday's Webinar: Ballot Measure Advocacy

There's still time to register for Thursday's webinar. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how your nonprofit can work for or against a ballot measure:
 
Laws on the Ballot: Ballot Measure Advocacy for Nonprofits
Thursday July 25th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Although nonprofits cannot support or oppose candidates, they can take a stand on ballot measures. Ballot measure advocacy is an effective way to engage and advocate for your community and its interests. Join us for details on how ballot measures--as well as amendments and referendums--provide yet another nonpartisan opportunity to connect with your audience, collaborate with partners, and build relationships--all while advancing your mission and goals.

Featured Presenter: Nayantara Mehta is Senior Counsel with Alliance for Justice in Oakland, CA. She works through the Bolder Advocacy Initiative to support nonprofit advocacy and voter engagement, to help strengthen the capacity of the public interest community to influence public policy. She provides training and technical assistance to nonprofit and foundation staff and board members around the country on the rules governing advocacy, lobbying and election activities.

Ballot Measures: What Nonprofits Can Do

On November 6th voters will decide the fate of 176 ballot measures in 38 states. They cover a range of issues including taxes and revenue, immigrant rights, public services, criminal justice, voter ID requirements, and same-sex marriage.

While nonprofits cannot endorse or oppose candidates for office, they can engage their communities around ballot measures. Remember, ballot measures are laws, not candidates and activity for or against a ballot measure is considered lobbying not electioneering. Therefore, you can:

1. Take a stand on a ballot measure and encourage a "yes" or "no" vote.
2. Provide neutral information on a ballot measure explaining what a "yes" or "no" vote means as a nonpartisan education activity.

Browse our ballot measure resources--like our Nonprofits and Ballot Measures factsheet and training video featuring the Alliance for Justice--to learn more about working on ballot measures.

Check out Bolder Advocacy's Ballot Measure Toolkit for nonprofits and foundations and see a complete list of 2012 ballot questions provided by Ballotpedia.

Voters need a reason to go to the polls, and you can give them one by talking about the ballot measures under consideration. Encourage voters to turnout by reminding them that they can have a direct impact on these issues simply by voting. Find out what's on your ballot by contacting your local elections office for a sample ballot.

Need other ideas? Download 10 Things to Do Between Now and Election Day.

Homeless Does Not Mean Voteless

Image Source: AIGA GOTV Gallery
Designer: Anthony Anaya

It's National Homeless and Low-Income Voter Registration Week, an event sponsored by the The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) during each presidential election since 1992. 

NCH is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission: To prevent and end homelessness while ensuring individuals' immediate needs are met and their civil rights protected.

To complement their registration efforts in 2012, NCH has updated their voter registration manual, You Don't Need a Home to Vote, to help clarify rules around ballot access for individuals currently experiencing homelessness.

Housing status does not dictate registration status. Make sure members of your community currently experiencing homelessness know their rights and are registered ahead of your state deadline!

Test Your Advocacy Capacity!

Bolder Advocacy (Alliance for Justice) has a new Advocacy Capacity Tool to help nonprofits and foundations assess their ability to conduct advocacy. The online survey can provide insights and help make your advocacy more effective.

Nonprofit voter engagement is a critical piece of your advocacy toolkit. Raising participation rates in your community can benefit both your organization and your constituents. While you may already be involved in lobbying or other advocacy efforts, voter engagement can play a key role in furthering all of your public policy goals.

This tool can help you identify areas of capacity to strengthen in order to accomplish your advocacy goals, plan for building advocacy capacity, and determine when to seek partners. It can help establish a baseline assessment and spark discussion about advocacy at your organization.

Remember, voter engagement complements the mission and goals of EVERY nonprofit! Get involved in 2012! 

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Keeping Track of Your Nonprofit's Advocacy

Bolder Advocacy (Alliance for Justice) recently released Keeping Track: A Guide to Recordkeeping for Advocacy Charities. The guide is designed to help nonprofit staff and board members track the lobbying activities of their organization and accurately report those activities to the IRS. The guide contains sample forms and multiple options for tracking staff time, overhead expenses, and direct costs.

Remember that if your nonprofit takes a stand on a ballot measure, you are in fact lobbying and your efforts are subject to normal lobbying limits. This guide can help you better understand and comply with federal tax laws by tracking your lobbying activities.

Learn more about nonprofit ballot measure advocacy and download "Keeping Track".

Don't Be Shy, Engage the Candidates!

This month we're hosting two webinars! The first is the perfect opportunity to brainstorm ways to use ballot measures to educate your clients and further your public policy goals.

Taking a Stand: Ballot Measure Advocacy for Nonprofits
Thursday May 10th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Many states put laws, constitutional amendments, and referendums on the ballot, asking voters to make critical public policy decisions at the polls. Often, the outcome directly affects our organizations and communities, so we have a vested interest in the results. Although nonprofits cannot endorse or oppose a candidate, they can take a stand on ballot measures. Learn how your nonprofit can benefit from engaging the public around ballot measures, as well as how to advance your advocacy efforts through ballot measure activity.

Featured Presenter: Nayantara Mehta is Senior Counsel with the Alliance for Justice in Oakland, California, and works to help strengthen the capacity of the public interest community to influence public policy and engage around elections. She conducts trainings throughout the country on the rules governing advocacy and lobbying by public charities and private foundations. She holds a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. 

Partner Spotlight: The Arc

We're pleased to introduce our newest 2012 national partner, The Arc! The Arc is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. As a leader in disability rights, The Arc boasts more than 140,000 members and more than 700 state and local chapters.

The Arc's mission is to ensure that every individual and family living with an intellectual or developmental disability in the U.S. has access to the information, advocacy and skills they need to participate as active citizens of our democracy and active members of their community. One of the ways The Arc does this is by encouraging voter participation. They are hosting a Disability Policy Seminar next month, which will include a session on best practices in voter engagement, featuring Nonprofit VOTE's George Pillsbury, as well as leaders from national disability organizations.

Nonprofits Take Action on Budget Challenges

As state and federal budgets are tightened, nonprofits are being asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of cuts, while still being expected to maintain quality services. In response, many have stepped forward to advocate and lobby for their clients, their causes, and their funding. In addition to working with legislators, many nonprofits are recognizing the importance of mobilizing voters, and are ramping up their voter engagement activities. These voter engagement efforts translate into expanded advocacy, particularly when there are questions on the ballot.

This is readily apparent in Colorado, where the state constitution requires voters to approve any tax policy change at the polls. To solve the state's budget challenges--which have forced some municipalities to ask residents for donations in order to keep street lights on--Colorado has two choices: increase revenue or drastically cut services. With looming cuts, as well as the possibility that a proposed tax increase will go before voters in November, Colorado's nonprofit sector is preparing to mobilize around this important debate.

The Colorado Nonprofit Association's Fiscal Education Network (FEN)--a project that engages the nonprofit sector in fiscal education efforts--has reached more than 750 organizations through its webinar series and in-person forums, exceeding their original goal of 500 organizations. In partnership with the Colorado Participation Project, FEN also instructs nonprofits on voter engagement strategies as part of a holistic approach to nonprofit advocacy.

Mark Turner, the Manager of Public Policy at the Colorado Nonprofit Association found that it was a natural fit: "Colorado voters make the key decisions on state fiscal policy. The partnership of FEN with the Colorado Partnership Project helps us empower voters not only to decide who should represent them at the legislature, but also how state resources should be used to serve Colorado."

Colorado nonprofits are not along in recognizing the importance of broadening public policy debates. After a long, hard-fought legislative session, the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits is making sure that nonprofits know how to engage candidates, and will feature a workshop on hosting candidate forums at their annual conference.

The California Participation Project (CPP) works with nonprofits and human service agencies across the state, many of which have mobilized around the state budget debate. The ongoing budget crisis has helped demonstrate the relevance and importance of nonprofit voter engagement work by linking it directly with critical public policy decisions. CPP believes that by strengthening and involving a larger electorate, nonprofits can complement their ongoing advocacy efforts to address community needs and hold officials accountable.

Many nonprofits are engaging the budget process at the local level as well. Earlier this week, the New Orleans Coalition for Open Governance hosted a free training on "The Budget Breakdown" to help encourage greater community participation in the New Orleans budgeting process. LatiNola encouraged their constituents to attend, reminding them that Spanish interpretation at municipal courts was one of 22 unfunded priorities in public safety and was almost cut from the budget last year. By helping the community better understand the budget process, these groups are facilitating community-wide discussion and giving citizens the ability to influence how their tax dollars are spent on public safety, children and families, economic development, sustainable communities, open and effective government, and innovation.

Across the country nonprofits of all shapes and sizes are grappling with the impact of further cuts, and are using their nonpartisan status to mobilize supporters and engage the public around voting, elections, and public policy. These efforts have not gone unnoticed and nonprofit voter engagement will continue to be a critical tool in current and future budget battles.

Is your nonprofit engaged in budget debates at the local, state, or national level? Tell us about it!

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July Webinar: How Nonprofits Can Work on Ballot Questions

In the spirit of American independence, join us for our July webinar on direct democracy.

Laws on the Ballot: How Nonprofits Can Take a Stand on Ballot Questions
Thursday July 28th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern
Many states put laws and constitutional amendments on the ballot, asking voters to make critical public policy decisions at the polls. Often, nonprofits have a vested interest in the outcome because many ballot questions directly affect our organizations and communities. Learn how your nonprofit can take action and benefit from engaging the public around ballot measures. We will address why this is considered "lobbying," rather than "electioneering" and what nonprofits can do in their advocacy efforts for or against ballot measures.

Featured Presenters: Abby Levine is the Legal Director for Advocacy Programs at the Alliance for Justice. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was a Public Policy Analyst at the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) where she monitored and analyzed issues affecting the nonprofit sector--such as challenges to nonprofit tax exemptions and advocacy, state budget cuts, streamlining government grants, and corporate governance. Stephanie Tama-Sweet co-chairs the Human Services Coalition of Oregon (HSCO), which advocates for the health and dignity of all Oregonians and has been involved with numerous ballot measures. She is also the Director of Government Relations for the American Heart Association in Oregon and previously served as a Public Policy Advocate at the Oregon Food Bank.

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Nonprofit Advocacy Impacts Southern States

A new study by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy found that advocacy by nonprofit organizations in four Southern states brought more than $4.7 billion in benefits to low-wage workers, families, and other underserved populations. The study analyzed the impact of 20 advocacy and community organizing groups in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi between 2005 and 2009.

The study found that for every dollar invested in the policy and civic engagement of the organizations, there was a return of $114 in benefits to local communities. Yes, you read that correctly--$114 for every $1. So in case you were wondering if your hard work on advocacy campaigns and voter engagement outreach was paying off, the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Congratulations to our state and national partners working in those areas--like the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations (LANO) and the Mississippi Center for Nonprofits--as well as all the local nonprofits for their contributions to the region!

Read the full study "Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in the Gulf/Midsouth Region."

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It's National Letter-Writing Week!

In a world of email, text messages, Twitter, Facebook, and everything in between, sometimes the hand-written letter can get lost. But not this week, because tomorrow kicks off National Letter-Writing Week (January 8-14)!

If you don't have a pen pal, consider writing to one of your state legislators or your congressional representatives about an issue that matters to you. A letter is a great way to start (or build) a relationship and make sure your representatives know that you're paying attention.

Remember that you don't have to write about something that upset you. You can thank your representative for their support on an issue, or compliment them on a job well done; everyone occasionally needs some words of encouragement, and elected officials are people too. Either way, remember to be courteous, even if you disagree with something or someone.

Want to get others involved? Organize a letter writing party!

Write to other public servants. Write to other nonprofits. Write a letter to the editor—those count too. Just make sure you write!

Your recipient(s) will thank you. And our trusty postal workers--who often deliver ballots as well--will too.

Leave a comment and let us know who you plan on writing to this week.

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Arizona Nonprofit Fights Ballot Measure

Nonprofit organizations have played an increasingly important role in organizing supporters for and against ballot measures. In the most recent election, Southwest Human Development--Arizona's largest nonprofit child development agency, serving children ages 0-5 and their families--turned their attention to Proposition 302, which aimed to repeal the First Things First Program, an early childhood services program.

A member of Protecting Arizona's Family Coalition and the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, Southwest Human Development set the tone for issue-based work. After staff sat down to learn more about voter engagement, they carried the work forward with enthusiasm. Those responsible for home visits were trained to conduct outreach with clients as well as their family members. Southwest Human Development organized numerous phone banks and sent out election reminders through their many networks. They also spread the word about voting by mail, a necessity for many of their clients who lack ready access to transportation.

Southwest Human Development used their get-out-the-vote and registration efforts to talk to the community about Proposition 302 and encourage a "No" vote. Their advocacy and extensive engagement work--not to mention the support of other nonprofits and community members--paid off with the proposition's defeat.

Southwest Human Development was not alone in taking action this year. What issue(s) inspired your nonprofit to act?

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