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Home :  Nonprofit Issues :  Advocacy Blog : 
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Advocacy Blog


Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Nonprofits Using Twitter and Other Online Tools

Twitter, Facebook, and other online social networking tools can help nonprofits in various ways, including helping groups reach new audiences to ultimately increase supporters and donors. Twitter is a free online service where users can send real time updates on what they are doing to those who want to receive them. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page. Many nonprofits are using twitter, for example visit Public Citizen's Twitter page and the National Wildlife Federation's page. But many groups are not using them effectively, or are still unsure how to include any online networking tools.

To learn more about some of these tools and how to use them, check out this transcript of an online discussion hosted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. One of the participants, John Haydon, wrote Twitter Jump Start: The Complete Guide for Small Nonprofits.



Posted by Amanda Adams, 01:06:13 PM



Monday, December 01, 2008

"Social Investing Rating Tool" To Rate Charities

The Washington Post reports that a group of philanthropists and entrepreneurs are working to develop a rating system to evaluate how nonprofits spend their money and whether their work is making a difference. The Working Group on Effective Social Investing is working to create the Social Investing Rating Tool, "to encourage donors to think more like investors -- to consider their charitable donations social investments, complete with risks and responsibilities."

On the Working Group's website, four objectives are listed:

  • Establish a set of indicators to gauge the ability of a social service organization to create social value - that is, achieve lasting results and continuously improve performance.
  • Develop an assessment that can be used to determine how organizations rate in relation to established indicators.
  • Build donor awareness of the questions they should ask to understand the level of responsibility they must assume for their investment to generate social value.
  • Establish a process for managing the ongoing improvement of indicators and the related assessment.
  • It will be interesting to find out how the group will define what it means to create social good.

    In addition, as a separate recent Washington Post article describes; "Donors receive more bang for their charitable buck by supporting nonprofits that both provide direct services and advocate for larger policy reform." If the Social Investing Rating Tool includes advocacy, ultimately the missions of social service organizations would be better served. It is the consistent combination of providing services and strong advocacy that will help solve systemic problems.

    For example, the Alliance for Children and Families has the New Voices at the Civic Table program "to provide clients with opportunities to use their authentic voices to improve the conditions of life for their families and neighborhoods." The toolkit for nonprofit board members and volunteers is also very informative; it addresses the focus on "mission-based advocacy, the process by which organizations harness the political potential of all the individuals [. . .] committed to the organization's mission to, in concert, take actions that can lead to more effectively achieve or advance the organization's goals. This effort gives salience to the concept of civic participation, an essential value of our democratic society."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 06:20:14 PM



    Tuesday, November 25, 2008

    Optimism remains that an Obama Administration can Help Improve Nonprofit sector

    An article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy ($$) discusses how nonprofits are working to develop ways to help president-elect Barack Obama fulfill pledges to expand national service and work with charities to solve social problems. "If Mr. Obama fulfills his campaign promises, he will greatly expand programs like AmeriCorps, which provides money to charities that operate national-service programs; create new service opportunities for young people and older people; establish a Social Entrepreneurship Agency to coordinate federal programs that help innovative charities; and secure new funds to stimulate entrepreneurial social projects."

    More than 20 are representatives of nonprofit groups are working on the Obama transition, two of which contributed to a document of public recommendations on ways to promote nonprofit work.

    Both Michele Jolin and Shirley Sagawa wrote chapters for the "progressive blueprint" published by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Jolin wrote a chapter urging the creation of a White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship. And Sagawa recommended legislation to expand the country's national service programs within the first 100 days. "He [Obama] should also issue an executive order creating a Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions to America's Problems, which would propose ways to improve relationships among nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, business, and the federal government with a view to solving critical national problems, she wrote."

    For more on nonprofit recommendations to the president-elect, read this article from the latest Watcher.



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 04:34:55 PM



    Thursday, November 13, 2008

    More Foundations are Using Funds to Influence Public Policy

    Last week the the New York Times reported that there are "a growing number of philanthropists whose foundations are spending increasing amounts and raising their voices to influence public policy — a marked shift from their traditional position." The article opens by highlighting the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's efforts to address fiscal responsibility. The foundation financed a documentary examining the United States' addiction to debt titled "I.O.U.S.A."

    Take, for example, the efforts by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to persuade Exxon Mobil, the oil company and descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust, to increase its investments in alternative energy. Rather than simply trying to sway corporate executives behind the scenes, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund courted news media coverage, and Rockefeller family members spoke out against Exxon Mobil's leadership, as did the foundation's president, Stephen B. Heintz.

    Joel L. Fleishman, author of The Foundation: A Great American Secret, cited three reasons for foundation' interest in influencing public policy: (1) greater ambition to tackle big and seemingly intractable problems, (2) growing frustration over government gridlock caused by partisanship and, (3) an increasing number of foundations that plan to spend down their assets by a specific date, making them eager to make a mark upon the world.

    The Atlantic Philanthropies recently published a report, Investing in Change: Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations, that urges increased foundation support for advocacy.



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 01:31:02 PM



    Thursday, November 06, 2008

    Obama and the Nonprofit Sector

    The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a special page dedicated to Barack Obama's (D-IL) positions on issues of importance to nonprofits, such as education, the arts, international aid, the estate tax, and much more. For example, Obama has "pledged to create a Social Investment Fund Network, which would distribute government and private money to charities working on innovative projects that focus on issues that have been identified by cities as priorities — crime prevention or education, for example — and help expand successful ones to other regions."

    And US. News & World Report details that "Obama's win may also provide a windfall to nonprofits." In his speech Tuesday night Obama said, "[Change] can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 06:09:36 PM



    State Ballot Measures and Charities

    The Chronicle of Philanthropy ($$) reports that numerous states had measures on the ballot that could have resulted in harmful cuts for charitable organizations that rely on state aid. "While the tax proposals on several state ballots were not aimed specifically at nonprofit organizations, the reductions in state revenue they would have prompted could have harmed charities that receive state and local grants and contracts to run arts, education, social-services, and other programs." An example of one of the failed proposals was in Oregon, which would have allowed residents to deduct federal taxes from their state income-tax returns, reducing the state's budget by about $1 billion.

    However, one proposal that we noted before on the ballot in Oregon would prohibit automatic deductions from the paychecks of government employees. "Nonprofit groups generally opposed the effort, fearing that donations to charities from government employees also could be prohibited. The measure passed by a very narrow margin. Oregon voters defeated three similar measures in recent years."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:29:44 PM



    Monday, November 03, 2008

    Using Technology to Monitor the Election

    Numerous online resources have popped up lately that allow everyone to participate and protect the election process. Now, you can share your voting experiences with the world. Here are a few online tools;

    • VoterStory.org is a web widget to collect voter complaints across the web and feed them to a network of groups standing by to help individual voters and monitor trends.
    • Video the Vote is a network of citizens working to document voter suppression and disenfranchisement.
    • Twitter Vote Report is a unique way to report on experiences at the polls. Voters can report using Twitter, an online service that lets people send very short messages to one another, such as by sending a text message. Twitter Vote Report aggregates the information and will create maps that show where there are problems.

    Now, Go Vote!



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:35:50 PM



    Thursday, October 30, 2008

    IRS Representative Discusses Important Issues for Public Charities

    At an American Bar Association teleconference, Judy Kindell, senior technical adviser to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) director of exempt organizations, commented on some important issues for charities. BNA Money and Politics ($$) reported on Kindell's comments. 501(c)(3) organizations are "prohibited from engaging in campaign activity, defined as any activity that favors or opposes candidates for public office. This can include endorsement of candidates, contributions to candidates or to political action committees, public statements for or against particular candidates, and distributing materials prepared by the organization or other organizations that favor or oppose candidates." 501(c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) organizations can get involved in campaign activity as long as it is not their primary activity.

    Kindell also commented on the Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI) that began in 2004. "IRS has only revoked the tax exemption of five organizations—one of them was not even for political activity—and has made its main goal to educate tax-exempts on the issues. Where necessary, IRS also issues letters telling them there is no change in their tax status but advising them not to engage in prohibited activities again." For more on the PACI program, see our IRS enforcement resource center.

    Another important topic touched upon was lobbying and the notion that 501(c)(3) groups are not allowed to lobby, which is not true. "Eric Gorovitz, counsel with Adler & Colvin in San Francisco, focused on the lobbying rules, saying he hoped to dispel a widely held myth that lobbying is somehow inappropriate for charities. [. . .] 'Charities that work on issues where there is a community that is underserved, or where stories have been left out of policy debates, are expressly empowered to participate in those debates,' he said."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 06:36:33 PM



    Thursday, October 23, 2008

    New Internet Resources and Campaign Finance Law

    A column by Eliza Newlin Carney at National Journal.com ($$) discusses how the Internet and new online techniques effect campaign finance laws.

    From ads embedded in video games, to unprecedented online fundraising, to targeted Web messages that track users with secret "cookies," political uses of the Internet have exploded in 2008. But as candidates and citizens alike have pushed boundaries, they have taxed the elasticity of existing election laws and campaign finance rules. Several recent Internet-related controversies have raised a host of policy and legal questions involving privacy, transparency and copyright issues.

    Such examples discussed are VoterVoter.com, which the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is set to rule on today (Oct. 23). VoterVoter.com is a service where anyone can pay for others' Internet ads and have them run on radio and TV stations. Another similar service is SaysMe.tv.

    "Lawyers for both groups say that an FEC draft response awaiting final approval proposes rules that would squelch the free speech of citizens who are enjoying a political platform for the first time thanks to new technologies. [. . .] Previous FEC regulations have exempted political activity on the Internet from most campaign finance rules."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 02:33:57 PM



    Tuesday, October 21, 2008

    Newly Released Legal Memo; Religious Hiring Doesn't Prevent Taxpayer Funding

    The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion allowing the Justice Department to distribute a $1.5 million grant to World Vision, a Christian aid group that makes religious belief a condition of employment. More so, the legal opinion sheds light on the office that interprets laws across the government. "Much of the work of the office remains secret. But legal experts predict that more rulings will be made public in the waning days of the Bush administration, as officials try to lock in policies they favor before a successor takes the stage."

    In the legal memo, the administration says it can avoid laws that prohibit giving taxpayer money to religious groups that hire only staff members who share their faith. The New York Times reported that "statutes for some grant programs do not impose antidiscrimination conditions on their financing, and the administration had previously allowed such programs to give taxpayer money to groups that hire only people of a particular religion. But the memorandum goes further, drawing a sweeping conclusion that even federal programs subject to antidiscrimination laws can give money to groups that discriminate."

    The memo stated that the anti-discriminatory language can be avoided because of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. "It sometimes permits exceptions to a federal law if obeying it would impose a 'substantial burden' on people's ability to freely exercise their religion. The opinion concluded that requiring World Vision to hire non-Christians as a condition of the grant would create such a burden." However groups are allowed to hire by faith when using private funds.



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:51:37 PM



    Wednesday, October 08, 2008

    New Fact Sheet for 501(c)(3) Groups On Proper Contact With Campaigns

    The Alliance for Justice has released a new fact sheet for 501(c)(3) organizations on how to interact with political campaigns and parties. To read Permissible Nonpartisan 501(c)(3) and Partisan Campaign Contact on Voter Engagement/Protection Efforts, click here. The fact sheet is focused on voter protection issues, and when 501(c)(3) voter-protection groups can talk with political candidates or parties.



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 12:34:21 PM



    Friday, October 03, 2008

    U.S. Government Stops International Charity's Family Planning Work

    The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) told six African governments to stop giving contraceptives donated by the United States to the Marie Stopes International family planning organization for distribution to their populations. According to the Associated Press, this was done because of the charity's work in China.

    "The move affects Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe and follows a determination by USAID that the organization is a major player in a U.N. program in China that the administration says promotes coerced abortion and sterilization. [. . .] Marie Stopes International, one of the world's largest family planning organizations, complained bitterly about the step, which it said was 'purely political' and 'dangerous' because it could result in more abortions, maternal deaths and health problems for poor African women and girls."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:22:45 PM



    Wednesday, September 24, 2008

    YouTube, Now a Permissible Way for Senate Offices to Increase Transparency

    RollCall ($$) reports that Senators can now legally post YouTube videos on their Web sites. "Until now, any Senator who embedded a YouTube video or linked to a Flickr album was in violation of outdated rules that required them to keep within the senate.gov domain. Some posted such links anyway, and few were reprimanded."

    "The House is still struggling with the issue. Democrats and Republicans agree that the current restrictions are unrealistic; with everyone violating the rules, true enforcement is impossible. The House servers can't keep up with the demand for online multimedia, and Members are forced to find free outside sites that can."



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:35:17 PM



    "Just Click Send"

    A New York Times editorial puts the situation bluntly; "there is no excuse - except a desire to slow the public's right to know - for their ongoing efforts to block electronic filing of their reports on campaign donations."

    The editorial is referencing the stalled Senate bill S.223 to require senators to file their contribution reports electronically. OMB Watch has supported this measure for a long time. Presidential candidates and candidates running for the House of Representatives file their campaign contributions in electronic form, allowing citizens quick access to such information. However, the in the Senate, filers do not have to file electronically. This delays disclosure by weeks and possibly till after the election.

    As the New York Times observes; "the Senate is still cynically mired in the dark age of paper filings. Candidates submit required reports on political money and donors via paper sheaves that wend through slow-mo typing, re-typing and mailing, ensuring that full disclosure only occurs sometime after Election Day."

    In August Pass223.com was launched to find out which senators are willing to officially support the bill. Visit Pass223.com and call your senators!



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 12:41:13 PM



    Tuesday, September 23, 2008

    Attention Washington, DC Readers: Issue Forums on Philanthropy at Georgetown

    The Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute will hold a series of issue forums on philanthropy. Each forum will examine the intersection of philanthropy and public policy through a specific issue: race, social justice for children, the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and local public education reform. The first one will take place next Friday Oct. 3 titled, Taking Account of Race: A Philanthropic Imperative. Gara LaMarche, the President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies will be the keynote speaker.

    For more information on the issue forums and to attend this event, click here.



    Posted by Amanda Adams, 05:12:16 PM




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