Other Resources

Comprehensive Election Guidelines

Short Election Activity Overview

Nonprofit Lobbying, Advocacy, and Public Policy Engagement

State Law Resources

Guidance for Religious Organizations

Voter Education – Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Activities

Multilingual GOTV Information and Toolkits

501(c)(4)s and PACs

Election Activities Research and Reports

2008 Campaign Coverage

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Comprehensive Election Guidelines

• IRS Political Activities Compliance Initaitve 2008, The IRS has launched its Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) for the 2008 political campaign season with the goal of providing guidance on prohibited political campaign intervention by 501(c)(3) organizations and maintaining enforcement in this area.
  
  
• Revenue Ruling 2007-41, Internal Revenue Service. On June 1, 2007, the IRS released guidance on facts and circumstances it considers when determining whether a charitable organization has engaged in prohibited political activities. In Revenue Ruling 2007-41 describes 21 different fact situations and determines whether or not they would be considered prohibited campaign intervention. The situations include: voter registration drives, candidate forums or other candidate appearances, issue advocacy campaigns, selling or renting mailing lists or leasing offices space, and website links to candidate-related material.

• Helpful Election Activity Resources, Alliance for Justice. Learn about the different election-related activities that public charities and foundations can engage in.

 Short Election Activity Overview

• Election 2008 Handbook, National Council on Aging. NCOA has developed a handbook to the 2008 election that does a few things: gives some suggestions about how to get involved in elections; provides questions that you can ask candidates to help determine their position on important aging issues; and provides links to useful Web sites to track the election.
  
  
• Voter Education by Nonprofits During a Political Campaign, CLPI. A two-page guide on the type of voter activities a 501(c)(3) public charity can legally engage in.

Nonprofit Lobbying, Advocacy, and Public Policy Engagement

• Make A Difference for Your Cause: Strategies in Nonprofit Engagement in Legislative Advocacy, CLPI. This resource and discussion guide provides examples of nonprofits that have successfully used public policy engagement to meet their missions and presents six questions readers can use to stimulate discussion with others in their organizations.

 State Law Resources

• State Law Resources, Alliance for Justice. Alliance for Justice has compiled web-based state law resources on campaign finance and ballot measures, lobbying disclosure and voter registration issues. These resources are currently available for: Arizona , California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washingtonand Wisconsin. More states will be added in the coming months.
  
  
• State Advocacy Guides, NP Action. This one-stop guide provides visitors with the means to locate and correspond with their Congressional delegation, state legislature, statewide elected officials, major media, and local officials, on key issues and pending legislation.

 Guidance for Religious Organizations

• Politics and the Pulpit: 2008. A Guide to the Internal Revenue Service Code Restrictions on the Political Activity of Religious Organizations. This guide sets out in plain English the rules governing political activity that apply to nonprofit organizations (including churches and other religious groups) that are exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  
  
• Charities, Churches and Politics, Internal Revenue Service. Provides background information on the political campaign activity ban on churches and the latest IRS enforcement statistics regarding its administration of this congressional ban.

Voter Education – Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Activities

• Voter’s Survival Kit: The Smart Citizen’s Guide to What the Politicians Won’t Tell You, Public Agenda. The Voter’s Survival Kit provides a nonpartisan crib sheet to help voters get the facts straight and protect themselves from political spin.  The six issue guides in the kit cover health care, climate change, the economy, taxes, spending and the debt, foreign policy, and immigration.

• A Nonprofit’s Guide to Hosting a Candidate Forum, Minnesota Participation Project. This guide will mainly assist those hosting a candidate forum in the upcoming election season. It was developed summarizing existing tools and enhanced through interviews with the Legislature, prominent journalists, and a public relations expert.

   

• Nonprofit Voter Engagement Starter Kit, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. This voter engagement starter kit has all the essentials any nonprofit interested in encouraging their communities to participate and vote in the upcoming election: Nonprofits, Voting and Election: our guide to permissible voter engagement activities for 501(c)(3)s; vote November 4 T-shirts; vote November 4 b uttons, stickers; and a nonprofit Voter Participation Checklist.

  
  
• Voter Education Toolbox, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. This toolbox is focused primarily on candidate events, candidate questionnaires and voter guides, with additional brief information on legislative scorecards and voting records, issue advocacy, and candidate education.
  

• NonprofitVOTE, Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network. NonprofitVOTE is a national website designed specifically for nonprofit staff, board members and volunteers to engage and educate communities around elections and voting. The site provides election information for all 50 states and features free, downloadable materials on the range of voter engagement activities for 501(c)(3) nonprofit staff and volunteers as they work to register, educate, and encourage their constituents and communities to vote.
  
  
• Seize the initiative, Alliance for Justice. This guide answers questions frequently asked by nonprofitorganizations about working on ballot measures.
  
  
• New Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization: A Report on the California Votes Initiative , The James Irvine Foundation. This report evaluates the effectiveness of various voter outreach strategies designed to increase turnout among infrequent voters in California.

Multilingual GOTV Information and Toolkits

• Mobilize the Immigrant Vote TOOLKIT, Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action Multilingual GOTV. This toolkit provides a number of tools and resources in English, Spanish and Chinese that can help support immigrant organizations in planning and implementing electoral strategies. The kit offers versatile exercises, strategies and practices for voter education to organizations with limited resources.

501(c)(4)s and PACs

• IRS Guidance (Rev.Rul. 2004-6) on advocacy activities of 501(c)(4), (5), (6) organizations
  
  
• Political Campaign and Lobbying Activities of IRC 501(c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) Organizations, Internal Revenue Service. This article is intended to provide exempt organization tax professionals with information about the rules relating to their political campaign and lobbying activities.

Election Activities Research and Reports

• Hispanics in the 2008 Election: Puerto Rico, Pew Charitable Trust. This fact sheet contains information on elections in Puerto Rico and data on the size and social and economic characteristics of the Puerto Rican eligible voter population. This fact sheet is based on the Center's tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2006 Puerto Rico Community Survey.

• The Hispanic Vote in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries, Pew Charitable Trust. Hispanics have emerged as a potentially pivotal constituency in the battle between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. This report examines the turnout, demographic characteristics, opinions and voting patterns of the Hispanic electorate in Democratic primaries and caucuses held so far in 2008. Where possible, it draws comparisons and contrasts between Latino, black and white voting patterns. It also compares Latino turnout in 2008 with turnout in 2004
  

• How Nonprofits Helped America Vote, OMB Watch. The report describes nonprofits' electoral engagement during the 2006 election and their preparation for upcoming elections. It highlights how nonprofits are defending voters' rights against attacks, including tactics meant to suppress and intimidate voters, new voter ID requirements, and limitations on voter registration drive. The report also covers the activities that may be viewed as more traditional voter engagement and mobilization efforts, and includes a list of resources for more information on how nonprofits can get involved in the 2008 elections.

2008 Campaign Coverage

• Campaign 2008, Chronicle of Philanthropy. This election resource center provides a wealth of information specifically relating the 2008 presidential election and the nonprofit community. Among the resources are: the latest news, information on key issues, guidance on nonprofit political activity, and examples of nonprofits in action.

• Election 2008, NPR. In-depth coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including information on Democratic and Republican candidates and primary elections and caucuses.