|
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. 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.
Another example of a candidate questionnaire is the
18-To-30 Year Olds' Voter Issues Paper (PDF),
which outlined the concerns of young adults in the 2004 campaign
and provided 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
were posted at 18to35's
online policy center.
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: June 6, 2007
|
Election
2008: