Streamlining Charitable Advocacy and Lobbying Rules
posted on: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Image by Arvind Balaraman, from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
By Meredith Brodbeck
Policy advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement are vital components of successful nonprofit work, Philanthropies and charities will need to increase investments and involvement in such practices to address the social, economic and political problems we are facing today.
In “Bringing Nonprofit Advocacy Rules and Culture into the 21st Century,” Larry Ottinger of Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest explores the importance of updating the IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules to encourage foundations and nonprofits to engage more in these activities.
“Organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement yield a high impact return on investment. Training, support and other efforts also are making a difference in changing the culture within the sector. Now, the sector needs to accelerate this change, recognizing that one often-neglected aspect involves a focus on the rules of civic engagement,” he writes.
Ottinger points out that the rules need to be changed because the current ones are outdated, and because the economic crisis has worsened the challenges faced by both communities most in need and the philanthropic sector.
He also discusses several proposals to reform lobbying rules for charities and foundations, and the great support behind reform efforts.
“What is needed is a paradigm shift, one that makes participation by foundations, charities and their constituents in the democratic process an ‘ordinary, not extraordinary’ part of the sector’s identity and activities. Organizing to update the rules governing our advocacy will play an important part in hastening this transformation,” he says.
Learn more about the current IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules and how they can be improved; read the full text of “Bringing Nonprofit Advocacy Rules and Culture into the 21st Century.”
For additional information on the vital role of policy advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement, visit NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project.
Meredith Brodbeck is communications associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).Labels: advocacy and organizing, Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules
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| Image by Arvind Balaraman, from FreeDigitalPhotos.net. |
Policy advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement are vital components of successful nonprofit work, Philanthropies and charities will need to increase investments and involvement in such practices to address the social, economic and political problems we are facing today.
In “Bringing Nonprofit Advocacy Rules and Culture into the 21st Century,” Larry Ottinger of Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest explores the importance of updating the IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules to encourage foundations and nonprofits to engage more in these activities.
“Organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement yield a high impact return on investment. Training, support and other efforts also are making a difference in changing the culture within the sector. Now, the sector needs to accelerate this change, recognizing that one often-neglected aspect involves a focus on the rules of civic engagement,” he writes.
Ottinger points out that the rules need to be changed because the current ones are outdated, and because the economic crisis has worsened the challenges faced by both communities most in need and the philanthropic sector.
He also discusses several proposals to reform lobbying rules for charities and foundations, and the great support behind reform efforts.
“What is needed is a paradigm shift, one that makes participation by foundations, charities and their constituents in the democratic process an ‘ordinary, not extraordinary’ part of the sector’s identity and activities. Organizing to update the rules governing our advocacy will play an important part in hastening this transformation,” he says.
Learn more about the current IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules and how they can be improved; read the full text of “Bringing Nonprofit Advocacy Rules and Culture into the 21st Century.”
For additional information on the vital role of policy advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement, visit NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project.
Meredith Brodbeck is communications associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).
Labels: advocacy and organizing, Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, IRS charitable advocacy and lobbying rules
posted by National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy at
12:31 PM
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