(Click on an initiative to learn more.) |
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or any resources, online or otherwise, that would help other nonprofits encourage voter participation and raise the visibility of issues important to them during this election season. |
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Nonprofit Initiatives
The nonprofit community is increasingly raising awareness of its issues and spurring citizen engagement in the election process. Organizations are making the most of campaign periods by educating the candidates about the issues that are important to them and possibly gaining the candidates' commitment on those issues.
As a way to encourage this increased engagement in the election process, Independent Sector has highlighted examples of how charities and foundations became involved in the 2008 campaign. As you consider how to get your organization involved, be sure to check the rules and learn what you can -- and can’t -- do during the election cycle.
GoVote.org is a nonpartisan website created by CREDO Mobile supported by the Tides Foundation and the New Organizing Institute to help bridge key information barriers to voting. GoVote.Org is a national site where voters can enter their zip code and find: a Google map showing where and when to vote early; a polling place locator for their state/country, with Google maps coming in key states; a list of ID to take to the polls; Spanish-language translations for all key information; student specific information searchable by campus in key states; and an invitation to add even more information through crowdsourcing and wiki-like approach to data gathering.
To help voters navigate their way through the campaign rhetoric and get up-to-speed on the key issues that are playing out in the presidential election, Public Agenda, a nonpartisan nonprofit research and civic engagement organization, has launched the “Voter’s Survival Kit: The Smart Citizen’s Guide to What the Politicians Won’t Tell You.” 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.
The issue guides highlight fundamental facts voters need to know and explains more about the choices the country faces in down-to-earth, easily understandable terms. The Voter’s Survival Kit also includes online discussion, links to candidate positions on issues and other sites with extensive information on issues, blogging opportunities, links to voting information sites, “Smash the Political Spin” and “Election Countdown” widgets and more.
The National Campaign for Fair Elections is a dynamic, integrated program that encompasses the Lawyers’ Committee’s work on election reform and Election Protection through a comprehensive strategy of litigation, legislative advocacy, communication, and citizen education. The goal of the National Campaign is to foster a national movement committed to ensuring that all voters have an equal opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot. To that end, NCFFE leads Election Protection – the nation’s largest non-partisan voter protection coalition including the Lawyer’s Committee, the National Bar Association, the NAACP, and the People for the American Way Foundation. Through its hotline and a dedicated army of volunteers the initiative helps tens of thousands of voters access the polls and overcome the obstacles to the ballot box. The National Campaign for Fair Elections is an Initiative of the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
The Primary Project, spearheaded by the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) and the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits (NHCN), is an effort to engage nonprofit organizations in educating candidates and voters about the local, state, and national issues relevant to the nonprofit community. NCNA, through its major initiative, the Nonprofit Congress, and NHCN are disseminating tools and resources to aid nonprofits in demonstrating to political candidates the vital role of America's charitable sector, as well as getting the candidates' vision on strengthening this critical partnership.
The James Irvine Foundation launched the California Votes Initiativein 2006 to increase voter participation among infrequent voters — particularly those in low-income and ethnic communities — in the San Joaquin Valley and the Southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. In that year, the nine nonprofit organizations participating in the initiative contacted more than 80,000 voters through direct methods such as door-to-door outreach and phone calls, and an additional 100,000 voters through less-direct methods such as voter forums and messages to congregations. This year, the organizations participating in the initiative estimate that they will directly reach nearly 300,000 voters and many more through voter forums and other indirect means.
The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network has launched NonprofitVOTE, a new website, designed specifically for nonprofit staff, board members and volunteers to engage and educate communities around elections and voting. NonprofitVOTE acts as a portal to election information for all 50 states and features free, downloadable nonprofit toolkits, training resources, and online webinars 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.
Starting with the Kaiser Family Foundation’s first Election 2008 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in March 2007, health care has been one of the top issues that the public wants presidential candidates to address. In developing health08.org, a hub for information about health care and the presidential campaign, Kaiser has sought to fulfill its mission as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. The site provides a one-stop shop for election news and events with analysis of health policy issues, regular public opinion surveys, news summaries and video coverage from the campaign trail.
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ArtsVote2008 is a national initiative that seeks bold, new policy proposals in support of the arts and arts education from candidates during the 2008 presidential campaign. ArtsVote 2008 is a program of the Arts Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) membership organization created by IS member Americans for the Arts. The fund's goal is to enlist and mobilize citizen activists who will help ensure that arts-friendly public policies are adopted at the federal, state, and local levels, and public and private resources are maximized.
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It's time we ensure health and long-term financial security for all. Independent Sector members AARP and the Service Employees International Union, along with Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business, are leading Divided We Fail, an initiative to give voice to millions of Americans who are tired of letting Washington gridlock stand in the way of affordable, quality health care and long-term financial security -- the most pressing domestic issues facing our nation. Common sense solutions are needed, and everyone -- individuals, businesses and government -- has a role and a responsibility in ensuring health and financial security for all.
Since 1920, the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan, grassroots political organization, has fought to improve our government systems and public policies through citizen education and advocacy. The League works at the national, state and local levels to give Americans the tools they need to express themselves at the polls. Their site, www.VOTE411.org, is a one-stop resource for election-related information. Register to vote, find out your candidates’ positions, when your state’s deadlines are, where to go to vote, and other election information.
Since President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971, the disease has never drawn any significant political attention or opposition. Until now.
Last August, the Lance Armstrong Foundation invited all of the presidential candidates to address the cancer burden in our country. At the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum, six of the then-candidates pledged to renew the war on cancer. The forum has helped put cancer into the national dialogue, as have print ads the Foundation ran in select newspapers leading up to early primaries.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation is working relentlessly to make cancer a national priority and make health care an important campaign issue. Learn about the candidates' commitments to the war on cancer on the Foundation’s website, and spread the word to your friends and family that cancer is an important issue for our nation.
IS members The Annie E. Casey Foundation and The George Gund Foundation have joined with a growing number of funders including the Eos Foundation, the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, and the Endowment for Health in an effort to build political will that leads to action against poverty in 2009 and beyond. Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity: Foundations Ask Presidential Candidates What They’ll Do For America seeks to engage candidates in substantive discussions about poverty and economic opportunity and keep these issues in the forefront as newly elected officials set their agendas.
To help develop the political will to address poverty, Spotlight is reaching out to candidates to answer five questions concerning poverty and economic opportunity. Spotlight also provides other poverty news updates, exclusive commentary from experts and national leaders, as well as easy links to organizations and research data. Visit Spotlight’s website to get the latest news once a week, just click here to sign up for updates.
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is deeply committed to expanding Latino civic participation and is engaging in several nonpartisan efforts to expand the Latino electorate. First, the Latino Empowerment and Advocacy Project (LEAP) trains and supports a number of NCLR Affiliates throughout the country in their voter engagement efforts. Second, the Ya Es Hora campaign, a partnership between NCLR, NALEO, SEIU, Univision, Impremedia, and others, is an unprecedented high-visibility effort focused on voter registration and mobilization. Finally, NCLR recently launched a new partnership with Democracia U.S.A., one of the country's leading Latino voter registration and civic engagement efforts with high-volume operations in five states.
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