Thursday: Candidate Engagement for Nonprofits

There's still time to register for Thursday's webinar:
 
Candidate Engagement: Forums, Appearances and More
Thursday June 27th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Candidate engagement is one of the most effective ways your nonprofit can advocate for your community. It draws community members into the political process and also encourages voting and other civic engagement. Join us for details on hosting candidate forums, coordinating candidate appearances, sharing research with candidates, and more.

Featured Presenter: Cheryl Crawford is the Executive Director of MassVOTE and has worked for many years in communities of color advocating for voting and civil rights. At MassVOTE she directs the Democracy for Nonprofits program and the Civic Engagement Fund, which distributes seed money and provides technical support to community nonprofit organizations so that they can to make a significant commitment to voter empowerment. From 2010 to 2012, she also directed MassVOTE's Census and Redistricting Project.

Order a Free "Register to Vote" Poster

Nonprofit VOTE's popular "Register to Vote" poster is back, and available in both Spanish and English. Whether you're gearing up for a state election or just want to make voting more visible at your organization, this poster is the perfect tool. 

Voter registration is one way that your organization can encourage year round voter participation. The poster has space to add customized information like a registration deadline or instructions on how to register at your organization or another site. Display it prominently as a visible reminder for your clients, staff, and volunteers to get registered! 

Learn about simple and effective ways to conduct voter registration by browsing all of our nonpartisan voter registration resources. Order a poster today and engage voters at your nonprofit!:

Webinar Recap: What Staff Can('t) Do

Yesterday's webinar, What Nonprofit Staff Can Do: Voter Engagement at Work and Off the Clock, is now available!

Watch the presentation on YouTube. If you subscribe to our channel, you'll be notified whenever new content is posted. You can also download the PowerPoint presentation and the audio portion of the presentation, or browse all of our voter engagement resources.

Now that you're a pro at making clear distinctions between your organization's nonpartisan work and your personal election activities, join us on July 12 to learn about getting your nonprofit involved in National Voter Registration Day! RSVP today!

Webinar: What Nonprofit Staff Can('t) Do

Working for a nonprofit that does nonpartisan voter engagement work doesn't limit employees' ability to do other political work on their own time. Learn how to differentiate between the two during:

What Nonprofit Staff Can Do: Voter Engagement at Work and Off the Clock
Thursday June 28th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Outside of work, nonprofit employees are free to volunteer for political campaigns or engage in other partisan political activities. However, it is important to make clear distinctions between personal and professional efforts, as all voter engagement activities on behalf of your nonprofit must be completely nonpartisan. Join us for a range of nonprofit staff do's and don'ts as well as how to make transparent divisions between your nonpartisan work on the clock and your partisan activities off the clock.

Featured Presenter: George Pillsbury is the founder and Director of Nonprofit VOTE. Prior to starting Nonprofit VOTE, he founded and directed MassVOTE, as well as several foundations dedicated to community uplift. His work in the fields of philanthropy, social investing, and voter and civic participation spans three decades.

Reminder: Nonpartisan Guidelines Webinar

There's still time to register for this week's webinar on guidelines for staying nonpartisan while doing voter engagement work! Register now!

Being Nonpartisan: 501(c)(3) Guidelines for Voter Engagement Work
Thursday April 26th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Learn what it means to be nonpartisan and how it impacts the voter engagement efforts of nonprofits. We'll describe what your organization can do within nonpartisan limits to help your clients and community members register to vote and access information about the voting process, candidates, and issues. We'll even describe how to engage candidates on a nonpartisan basis! Register now and help raise participation rates in your community this year!

Featured Presenter: George Pillsbury is the founder and Executive Director of Nonprofit VOTE, as well as the author of "Nonprofits, Voting, and Elections: A Guide to Nonpartisan Voter Engagement for 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organizations". He also founded and directed MassVOTE and started several foundations dedicated to community uplift. His work in the fields of philanthropy, social investing, and voter and civic participation spans three decades.

Candidates Talk Back with Candidate Questionnaires!

While nonprofits cannot support or oppose a candidate for office, there are a number of ways to engage candidates on a nonpartisan basis.

Consider creating a candidate questionnaire: not only will it allow you to communicate with candidates, but it will also let your clients (and the public) know what the candidates think about a variety of issues impacting your community.

Draft the questions carefully.

• Pose questions in a neutral manor so that they do not favor (or seem to favor) a particular candidate.
• Don't use the questionnaire to demonstrate whether a candidate agrees or disagrees with your organization's views.
• Keep it fairly short--you want candidates to respond and you want people to read their responses.
• Use open-ended questions and avoid yes/no or support/oppose formats.
• Do not include pledges (e.g. "If elected I agree to support all _____ issues.").

Distribute the questionnaire to all candidates.

• Be sure to send the questions to EVERY candidate in the race.
• Provide a word limit for responses--this helps avoid the impression of favoring one candidate over another.
• Set a deadline for replies, but leave a reasonable amount of time.
• Don't be afraid to follow up if you don't hear back.

Share their responses!

• Publish all responses in full (another reason for imposing a word limit). Do not paraphrase, summarize, or edit responses.
• All responses should be displayed in the same font, the same print size, and in an impartial way.
• Remember, do not compare the candidates' responses to your organization's views.
• Let the public know this information is available! Post it on your website, broadcast it in your communications, and make hard copies available at your nonprofit.

For further guidelines (like what to do if some candidates don't respond) review the Alliance for Justice's Candidate Questionnaire factsheet.

Ahead of their May 8th state primary, the N.C. Center for Nonprofits sent a list of 10 questions about key policy issues for the nonprofit sector to each gubernatorial candidate. They ranged from inquiries about personal experience with the nonprofit sector to questions about incentives for charitable giving, and plans to collaborate with and support nonprofits in North Carolina. A number of candidates participated, so check out their responses!

Consider writing your own questionnaire, and learn more about candidate engagement! Have you created a candidate questionnaire? Tell us about it!

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April Webinar: Stay Nonpartisan

Want to give voter engagement a try, but aren't completely sure what it means to be nonpartisan? Register for our April webinar and find out!

Being Nonpartisan: 501(c)(3) Guidelines for Voter Engagement Work
Thursday April 26th, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Learn what it means to be nonpartisan and how it impacts the voter engagement efforts of nonprofits. We'll describe what your organization can do within nonpartisan limits to help your clients and community members register to vote and access information about the voting process, candidates, and issues. We'll even tell you how to engage candidates on a nonpartisan basis! Register now and help raise participation rates in your community this year!

Featured Presenter: George Pillsbury is the founder and Executive Director of Nonprofit VOTE, as well as the author of "Nonprofits, Voting, and Elections: A Guide to Nonpartisan Voter Engagement for 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organizations". He also founded and directed MassVOTE and started several foundations dedicated to community uplift. His work in the fields of philanthropy, social investing, and voter and civic participation spans three decades.

2012 Webinar Series Schedule

The general election will be here before you know it, so to help you prepare we're hosting a webinar every month until November. We'll cover a variety of voter engagement topics to ensure you know how to conduct registration drives, educate voters, and get out the vote--all while staying nonpartisan! Remember, our webinars are free for 501(c)(3) organizations and will be available on our YouTube channel.

See the full webinar lineup for 2012.

2012 Nonprofit Campaign Underway in Arizona

More than 150 nonprofit leaders gathered in Phoenix earlier this month to kick off a year-long campaign to increase voter participation in the 2012 elections and “Reclaim Our Community's Power.” The event was designed to inspire and equip nonprofits and other community-based organizations to conduct nonpartisan voter engagement in 2012.

Nonprofit VOTE's Lindsey Hodel was a keynote speaker, and one participant blogged that "she inspired the audience with her innovative and pioneer experiences." Lindsey called on participants to "voterize" their organizations--both for the benefit of their clients and for their missions.

Although nonprofits cannot support or oppose candidates, they can most certainly help people register and vote. By doing so, nonprofits can ensure that elected officials are representative of our communities and that public policy reflects the community's needs. The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits noted that "For too many years, most nonprofits have not seized the opportunity presented by elections to shape the communities they serve." That is no longer true in Arizona. The Arizona nonprofit community has committed to registering, informing, and activating voters, demonstrating how easy it is to create a "powerful political force."

Momentum is already gathering in Arizona, but what about in your state? It's never to early to start thinking about 2012. Sign up for our newsletter and stay connected as we cover ways your nonprofit can get involved!

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