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Many nonprofit organizations have stood on the sidelines during
election season, due in large part to fears that they could violate
legal restrictions—but the law clearly allows 501(c)(3) nonprofits
to engage in voter education, voter registration, and get-out-the-vote activities. There is one overriding rule:
The activities
must be nonpartisan, which simply means a nonprofit cannot show or
state a preference for or against a particular candidate or
candidates, a particular political party, or candidates or parties
who have taken particular positions.
The pages
below provide information about what your organization can do to get
involved in the upcoming elections, as well as ideas and stories
about how nonprofits are working to help all citizens express their
opinions in the 2004 elections.
You Can Make a Difference
- Participate in voter registration and get out the vote efforts. Post a voter
registration link on your website. Encourage volunteers,
supporters, and, where appropriate, consumers of services to
register and to vote.
- Encourage your own employees participate in the election
process and vote. Adopt a
personnel
policy that facilitates voting, serving as election judges,
and working on an issue or candidate campaign.
- You can raise awareness of your mission and issues of concern
through asking candidates to respond to questionnaires or
attending debates and posing questions. 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
for candidates.
- Sponsor a candidate
forum. Make sure our volunteers, supporters, and, where
appropriate, consumers of services have tools to raise issues and
ask questions at other candidate forums.
- Present your organization’s
policy agenda or issues to
platform committees, campaign staff, candidates, media, and the
general public.
- Issue a
candidate questionnaire to foster discussion among candidates,
public officials, and voters about the issues that affect your
organization.
- Organize educational events to help citizens see the
connection between essential community services and the taxes they
pay. It is critical that nonprofits tell the story of how they put
tax dollars to work to benefit the community.
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Copyright ©
2004 Independent Sector. All Rights Reserved.
