Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying

Candidate Questionnaires

Candidate questionnaires are a valuable tool to foster discussion among candidates, public officials, and voters about the issues that affect your organization. There are a few basic rules to follow to ensure that your organization does not run afoul of IRS restrictions and election regulations prohibiting nonprofits from engaging in partisan political activities:

1. Questionnaires must be sent to all candidates running for any particular office. Follow up to make sure that your questionnaire was received by all candidates.

2. Questions must be phrased as neutrally as possible. They cannot be framed in a way that biases the answers toward a particular position that is favored by your organization or by a particular candidate or political party. The National Mental Health Association advocates using open-ended questions to ensure that the questionnaire is not viewed as an attempt to sway voters for or against any of the candidates.

3. All responses received must be included in their entirety in any print or online report about the questionnaire. You cannot edit, summarize, or analyze the responses.

4. Any publication or listing of questionnaire responses must include the names of all candidates to whom the questionnaire was sent, even if no response was received.

Many national and state nonprofit organizations have developed candidate questionnaires that can be used or adapted for local use. The National Mental Health Association offers an excellent example of a questionnaire that focuses on candidates' experiences and positions on mental health policy. As you inquire about candidates' views on your particular mission, don't forget to include questions on the broader climate for philanthropy and nonprofit initiative. See Sample Questions on the nonprofit sector.

Another example of a candidate questionnaire is the 18-To-30 Year Olds' Voter Issues Paper (PDF), which outlines the concerns of young adults and provides sample questions to ask candidates. President Bush and Senator John Kerry responded to questions in the issues paper, which was sponsored by Smackdown Your Vote, the League of Women Voters and other groups. The candidates' full responses to the questions are posted at 18to35's online policy center, as well as at smackdownyourvote.com and the League of Women Voters website.

Please share your own organization's activities 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—email: publicpolicy@IndependentSector.org.

Last updated: September 8, 2004