Advocacy and Lobbying

Rules of Advocacy and Lobbying for Grantmakers

caroline.healey@cof.org — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:14:01 +0000

Rules of Advocacy and Lobbying for Grantmakers caroline.heale… Tue, 08/16/2022 - 16:14

Rules of Advocacy and Lobbying for Grantmakers

It is easy to get hung up on what you think you cannot do when engaging with policymakers. The good news is, you can do more than you may think!

Though the law varies among different types of foundations, all foundation types can engage in advocacy! The Council on Foundations Legal Team explained all the ways foundations can engage in public policy and advocacy.

Participants learned what constitutes permissible, non-partisan advocacy. They explored regulations versus legislation, learning the difference and why it matters and exceptions to the limitation on lobbying. We also discuss how grantmakers can support civic engagement, including what foundations can do to educate voters during election year politics and what it means to support or oppose a candidate.

Access this webinar recording to learn:

What constitutes permissible, non-partisan advocacy and whether bi-partisan action is as good as non-partisan action
The difference between regulation and legislation and why it matters
Exceptions to the limitation on lobbying
What foundations can do to educate voters and support civic engagement
What qualifies as support or opposition for a particular candidate

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Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers

emily.moses@cof.org — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:53:11 +0000

Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers emily.moses@cof.org Fri, 08/27/2021 - 16:53

Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers

Government policy decisions impact communities and can drive or impede solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing the nation. Engagement in public policy advocacy is therefore crucial to the philanthropic sector's ability to achieve its greatest impact.

Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers provides a roadmap for how foundations can advance their mission and goals by participating in public policy advocacy. The publication includes stories of how foundations across the country have been successful in their policy and advocacy efforts, recommendations and resources for how to engage in public policy and advocacy, and information specific to both private and public foundations.

2021, 36 pages.

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Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits

council-webteam — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:25:17 +0000

Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits council-webteam Thu, 04/12/2018 - 08:25

Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits

The philanthropic sector has a unique opportunity to highlight the voices and concerns of the communities it serves. Nonprofit VOTE, Independent Sector, United Philanthropy Forum, and the Council on Foundations believe we should bring those voices to the forefront. By producing a toolkit to provide nonpartisan support, encourage voter participation, and strengthen democracy, we hope we have taken that step.

The toolkit, which covers both community and private foundations, provides a cross-section of measures to educate and organize nonpartisan events around voter engagement, including options, sample content, case studies, and more.

Productive and constructive civic engagement is proving to be an effective tool of changemaking in ways beyond voting. Engaged voters tend to be more engaged neighbors, and more engaged neighbors means more vibrant communities. Foundations can be a resource in educating, informing, and providing the spaces to facilitate active participation in these processes, within the confines of the law.

Access the Online Toolkit for Foundations

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Advocacy Toolkit

timothy.huber@cof.org — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 21:19:20 +0000

Advocacy Toolkit timothy.huber@… Tue, 07/05/2016 - 17:19

Advocacy Toolkit

Sometimes the hardest part of engaging in advocacy can be figuring out where to start.

Government is the mechanism for public policy process, and elected officials and their staff are driving and creating policies. As their constituents and important stakeholders in civil society, they need to hear from you about how policies will affect our communities.

Advocacy and engagement with policymakers is a tool that is readily available to you and your foundation to support your efforts in furthering your mission and advancing the greater good. This Advocacy Toolkit is designed to be a quick resource for Council members and others engaged in the philanthropic space. 

Basics of Engaging with Congress

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying by Foundations

Take Action

Do you have 5 minutes for philanthropy? View our active Action Alerts to communicate with your members of Congress on pending legislation.

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Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying

Serena.Jezior@cof.org — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 17:15:19 +0000

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying Serena.Jezior@… Thu, 06/30/2016 - 13:15

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying

It is easy to get hung up on what you think you cannot do in terms of engaging with your policymakers. The good news is, you can do more than you may think!

Though the law varies somewhat between what community and public foundations are allowed to do, versus what private foundations are allowed to do in terms of lobbying, all foundation-types can engage in advocacy!

Engaging on Behalf of Your Organization

Let’s start with defining advocacy. The Council on Foundations uses the term “advocacy” as an umbrella term for all types of engagement with policymakers (including elected and appointed officials and their staff) that is not specifically considered lobbying under the IRS definition (see Treasury Regulations, Section 53.4911-2 and 53.4945-2).

So what does that mean? Let’s start with lobbying. In general, lobbying is considered to be any activity that attempts to influence or expresses a view about specific legislation.

Direct Lobbying

Direct lobbying is the attempt to influence specific legislation by expressing a view on that legislation via direct communication with a Member of Congress, Congressional staff, or any other government official or employee who is involved in the policymaking process.

Grassroots Lobbying

Grassroots lobbying is the attempt to influence specific legislation via communication with any segment of the general population, where that communication encourages the recipient to take action with respect to that legislation. Community and public foundations can engage in lobbying activities, so long as it comprises an “insubstantial” amount of the organization’s total activities (which is defined rather generously by the IRS; see rules for community and public foundations). Private foundations may not engage in lobbying, except for cases of self-defense (see rules for private foundations).

If advocacy is everything except lobbying, then what is not considered lobbying? The answer is, a lot. Some activities that are not lobbying might include:

Sharing information about your foundation’s work. Your work impacts the lives of elected officials’ constituents. They want to hear from you about the work you are doing to improve and strengthen your shared communities.
Discussing broad social, economic, or other issues. Foundations possess a wide range of expertise across countless issues that impact our society and economy. You are the experts who are working to address these issues in your communities every day. Your policymakers want to hear from you about the status of these issues, and your approach to solving them.
Sharing a nonpartisan analysis, study, or research. Policymakers need fair and balanced information to inform their approach to drafting policies and legislation. If your foundation has commissioned or conducted a study or analysis that includes a sufficiently full and fair discussion of the facts impacting the issue, sharing this work is a permissible advocacy activity.
Co-hosted events, or jointly funded projects. Co-hosting a convening that brings stakeholders together from across the sector can be a valuable way to connect and innovate for solving the issues that impact your communities.
Engagement in regulatory affairs. Regulations are not considered specific legislation. Submitting comments on a proposed rulemaking that would impact your work is a permissible advocacy activity your foundation could engage in.
Self-defense communications. This type of activity is the exception to limitations on lobbying. Both public charities and private foundations are permitted to attempt to influence specific legislation that would affect your organization’s existence, tax-exempt status, powers and duties, or the deductibility of contributions to your organization.

Learn more about the ways in which your foundation can engage in advocacy.

Ways for your Foundation to Engage in Advocacy

Funding Public Charities that Lobby

All types of foundations can make grants to public charities that conduct lobbying activities—with some restrictions. See specific rules below for foundation types.

Specific Rules by Foundation Type

Learn the specific rules about what types of funding and advocacy activities your organization can and cannot do.

Community & Public Foundation Rules

Private Foundation Rules

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How to Find Your Members of Congress

toure.burgess@cof.org — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 14:54:31 +0000

How to Find Your Members of Congress toure.burgess@… Thu, 06/30/2016 - 10:54

How to Find Your Members of Congress

Find your Representative(s)

Members of Congress are interested to learn about the work that you are doing in their communities. When identifying your representative(s), it is helpful to think—not only about the district in which your home office is located—but also the areas in which you fund. It is likely that your foundation funds across multiple districts.

Identify which Members of Congress represent areas in which you fund or have a connection with.

Go to www.house.gov/representatives/find

Find your Senators

If you fund in multiple states, it is helpful to consider which Members of Congress may be interested in learning about your work beyond the two Senators from your home state.

Identify your state’s Senators.

Go to www.senate.gov/senators/contact

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A Guide to Advocacy, Lobbying & Election Related Activity: Navigating the Rules

council-webteam — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:52:35 +0000

A Guide to Advocacy, Lobbying & Election Related Activity: Navigating the Rules council-webteam Thu, 03/31/2016 - 09:52

A Guide to Advocacy, Lobbying & Election Related Activity: Navigating the Rules

A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources

The purpose of this chapter is to help you understand the federal tax laws and regulations that govern how, when, and to what extent different types of foundations can engage with policymakers, their staff, or candidates running for public office. It also covers the distinction between the advocacy activities that you as a foundation can do, those that your staff can do, and those that your grantees can do with your support.

This chapter is divided into six parts:

Lobbying Versus Advocacy

Part One is designed to help you understand the federal tax law distinction between lobbying and advocacy, which can sometimes stymie foundations.

Private Foundations and Policy Engagement

Part Two covers which activities by private foundations (or grantees) in the public policy arena are permissible and which are not.

Public Charities: What Rules Apply to Community Foundations

Part Three defines the rules that govern how much lobbying a community foundation may engage in on an annual basis.

Campaign Intervention: A Blanket Prohibition

Part Four discusses what kinds of activities violate the blanket prohibition on foundation participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.

Individuals Associated with Foundations

Part Five outlines the election-related activity rules that apply to individuals associated with public charities or private foundations (e.g., staff, board members, volunteers) in their personal and professional capacities.

Other Rules that May Apply: Election & Campaign Finance Laws

Part Six explains federal and state election and campaign finance laws throughout the United States.

Accessing this Chapter

As a benefit of Council membership, members can download this chapter for free. Nonmembers of the Council can purchase this chapter of the Legal Compendium in our store for $149.

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Outreach and Engagement Opportunities

council-webteam — Fri, 30 May 2014 21:17:22 +0000

Outreach and Engagement Opportunities council-webteam Fri, 05/30/2014 - 17:17

Outreach and Engagement Opportunities

Proposals being considered in Congress often have implications for philanthropy and its effectiveness in addressing some of our most pressing challenges. In addition to educating lawmakers in Washington, D.C., communicating the impact locally is just as important. Here are some ways your organization can spread the word about the correlation between philanthropy and thriving communities.

Media Outreach

Letter to the Editor

Send a brief letter (typically 200 to 250 words) to the editorial page editor of your local newspaper in response to relevant news coverage or editorials, and raise awareness about your efforts to strengthen your local community.

Press Release

Inform local media outlets that you support a strong philanthropic sector, and emphasize the potential consequences in the community if lawmakers enact tax policies that could hurt philanthropy’s effectiveness. By sharing key data or issuing a public statement about policy debates in Washington, you can convey to Congressional members that your organization is fully engaged in conversations.

Op-ed

Submit an op-ed (typically 550 to 700 words) to the editorial page/op-ed editor encourage your community and lawmakers in Washington to protect incentives that stimulate charitable giving.

Editorial Board Meeting

Arrange a meeting with members of the editorial board from your local paper to highlight the impact of philanthropy, and the consequences of policies being considered. Editorial support can have a significant impact in shaping opinions and prompting action.

One-on-one Reporter Meetings

By connecting with influential reporters for one-on-ones, you can help raise awareness about legislation being considered and its impact on the community. Most importantly, you can position your organizations as a go-to resource on relevant issues.

Online Outreach

Facebook and Twitter

Through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you can drive conversation and direct stakeholders to useful resources. Posts can include relevant news articles, op-eds, new reports or research.

Blogs

You can inform and engage your network through your organization’s blog. Moreover, you can share your blog on social media with elected officials and opinion leaders to alert them on the importance engaging philanthropy on key issues.

Stakeholder Engagement

One-on-One Meetings

Request individual meetings with key staffers and/or congressional members in district offices to reinforce the local impact of policy changes. When appropriate, be sure to include other nonprofit, foundation or community leaders who share your perspective.

Site Visits

By inviting elected officials on site visits, you can demonstrate philanthropy's local impact. Moreover, it will provide elected officials a better understanding of how local programs and services are helping their constituents. Be sure to include key community leaders and advocates, as well as beneficiaries and donors. Site visits can also be promoted to the local media if appropriate.

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Checklist for a Successful Meeting with Your Members of Congress

council-webteam — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 22:55:54 +0000

Checklist for a Successful Meeting with Your Members of Congress council-webteam Wed, 11/27/2013 - 17:55

Checklist for a Successful Meeting with Your Members of Congress

How to Make the Most of your meeting

Consider the following to ensure a productive meeting that runs smoothly.

Determine Your Message

Before your meeting, you will need to decide what your message will be. This is going to depend largely on the purpose and goal of your meeting, and can range from education about a broad issue area that you work on, to a decisive “ask” for support on a specific piece of federal tax legislation.

See some current messages that the Council is actively engaging on, or reach out to us for guidance on developing your own message for issues you are working on.

Current Messages

Tell Your Story Effectively

Your grantmaking and leadership contribute to strengthening populations which your lawmakers were elected to represent. It is important to highlight this parallel when engaging and communicating with policymakers to demonstrate your shared goal of supporting and improving a particular population.

Access our guide for telling stories that resonate with your policymakers.

Telling your story to policymakers

Leave-Behind Materials to Bring

Business cards. Make sure to bring plenty of business cards to present to the individual who greets you at the front desk, and to whomever you meet with. Also make sure to get their business cards, as they will have direct contact information for the staff member.
“About Us” 1-pager for your Foundation. Particularly when you are meeting with a Member or one of their staff members for the first time, it is incredibly helpful for them to have information on-hand after the meeting to refer to. As much as possible, try to make sure that this leave behind is concise and includes your mission, program areas, total giving (if possible, by district or state), and a particularly compelling example or story that illustrates the importance of your work.
NOTE: Given the current climate of skepticism toward endowed funds, the Council recommends strongly against conveying your organization in terms of a ratio (i.e. “We are Organization ABC. We have $XX in assets, and make $YY in grants.”). Instead, we recommend emphasizing your giving in conjunction with programming or the amount of time your organization has been serving your community.
Relevant information or data. For example, if you have decided the topic of your meeting will be ‘how to increase access and affordability of healthy foods in your community,’ be sure to bring information that you have (from research you have commissioned, from your grantees, from other credible sources, etc.) to support the case you are trying to make.
NOTE: Remember, you can discuss broad policy areas and make the case for a certain perspective or position on that issue without “lobbying.” As long as you do not ask your Members of Congress or their staff to take a position (or vote in favor of or against) on a current piece of legislation, this is considered advocacy—which is permissible under the law.
Summary of “asks.” If you do plan to engage in lobbying with specific “asks,” it is immensely helpful for you to summarize those asks with relevant legislative information (i.e. bill numbers, when the bill was introduced, current co-sponsors, etc.) for reference after you leave. It will provide your Members of Congress and their staff a quick reference for a reminder of your meeting.
NOTE: If you would like a sample or guidance for constructing this, the Policy Team is happy to help.

Suggested Follow-up

Remember to follow-up with a thank you to whomever you met with! This serves the purpose of both reminding them what you discussed, but also gives you a channel of opportunity to continue the conversation.

If possible, we recommend sending a brief ‘thank you’ email within the 24-hour window of time following your meeting. Be sure to remind them of your organization, what you discussed (including any “asks” with the relevant legislative information), and any other items or information you promised to follow-up with.

As a supplement to email follow-up, social media is also a good way to connect with policymakers following a meeting with their office. For example, if you are meeting with your Member directly, ask to take a picture with him or her and tweet it at them! Or, post it with a brief ‘thank you’ to his or her Facebook page.

Let us Know how it Went!

Sharing your advocacy experiences and stories with us helps us create and improve our resources and programming for your use. It also allows us to take an audit of which of your colleagues are working on the same issues as you, and begin to identify opportunities for you to connect with and share insight with your peers.

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Election Year Politics: What Foundations Need to Know

council-webteam — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 17:40:09 +0000

Election Year Politics: What Foundations Need to Know council-webteam Sat, 11/09/2013 - 12:40

Election Year Politics: What Foundations Need to Know

Grantmakers can legally participate in the political process by following guidelines established by the IRS. Here are some tips.

The election season, particularly in presidential election years, brings with it both opportunities and challenges for private foundations and public charities. Grantmakers can use this opportunity to increase civic involvement, provide nonpartisan information about candidates and educate candidates about important issues. The challenge for grantmakers is working within the applicable guidelines the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has established for political activity.

There is only one primary rule to consider on funding or engaging in political activity: Do not engage in partisan political activity. Section 501(c)(3) organizations, whether private foundations or public charities, such as community foundations, may not engage in any activity that supports or opposes candidates for public office or political parties. Such support or opposition is partisan political activity.

In contrast, encouraging the public to vote, educating voters about the candidates and educating candidates can all be nonpartisan activities, if they are carried out in a way that does not suggest bias for a particular candidate or party.

Who is a candidate for public office? A candidate includes any person who has declared his or her candidacy, is considering candidacy or is being offered as a possible candidate for an elective public office at the federal, state or local level. For example, candidates in races for the presidency, city council, local school boards or judicial positions are all included under this term. Appointed officials, such as federal judges or a governor's cabinet members, are not considered candidates for public office because they are not elected.

What does it mean to support or oppose a candidate? A wide range of activities, including outright monetary contributions to a campaign, endorsements or simply presenting a candidate or political party in a more favorable or unfavorable light, could be considered partisan. The IRS uses a facts and circumstances test to make the determination, weighing all the relevant factors including the context and timing of the activity, past activities of the organization, how the activity is carried out and the messages communicated by the organization to determine if the activity is partisan or nonpartisan.

Permissible Nonpartisan Activities

While the general prohibition against partisan political activity is clear, the IRS has provided guidance on the ways that charitable grantmakers can conduct or support activities carried out in a nonpartisan manner. When evaluating potential grants, the key consideration is whether, in light of all facts and circumstances, the activity is supporting or opposing a candidate for public office or political party.

Voter registration and get-out-the-vote. Public charities may support activities that encourage individuals to exercise their right to vote so long as they are nonpartisan; private foundations must comply with additional requirements. Common features of nonpartisan activities in those areas include:

Nonpartisan messages are used to encourage voter participation.

Messages such as "exercise your right to vote" indicate nonpartisan activity. However, a message suggesting a position on one particular issue, such as "It's time for a change: Vote prochoice," indicates partisan activity.

Services are provided without regard to an individual's political affiliation or tendency to vote in a particular manner.

A project that will only provide free rides to the polls to individuals who support the organization's position on a single issue, such as health care reform or only to members of one political party, will likely be deemed partisan.

The project targets individuals based on a common interest, such as the environment or individuals who are historically excluded or underrepresented populations, not based on expectations of how an individual will likely vote.

Targeting a region because the area tends to vote Republican is impermissible, but targeting a region because its voters are historically underrepresented at the polls indicates a nonpartisan effort.

Private foundations must also ensure that a grant earmarked for a voter registration project meets several additional requirements to avoid having the grant or activity classified as a taxable expenditure. In part, these requirements found in Section 4945(f) require voter registration activities to be carried out by a Section 501(c)(3) organization over more than one election cycle and in at least five states.

Further, private foundations may not earmark their contribution to the project for a particular location or a particular election period. To ensure that the proposed project meets these and the other requirements, private foundations may ask the potential grantee to obtain an advance ruling from the IRS stating that the project meets the 4945(f) requirements.

Voter education. Activities that provide information to the public about candidates, such as publishing voter guides or hosting a candidate debate. Both public charities and private foundations may support these activities if they are nonpartisan. Key indicators of nonpartisanship include:

The project includes all candidates for a particular office.

All candidates for a particular race should be solicited for participation. In the case of a candidate debate in which the field of candidates is too large to afford the opportunity for a meaningful debate, the project could still be nonpartisan if the host establishes objective criteria for determining which candidates will be invited to participate.

The questions will address a broad range of issues.

Inclusion of a broad range of issues is important to avoid making it appear that the organization has a preference for one candidate over another based upon the answers to a narrow set of questions.

The material, whether in print or in person, is presented in an unbiased manner.

This includes ensuring that questions are unbiased, candidates are provided with equal opportunities to respond to questions and moderators (or others from the organization). Do not add commentary about the candidate's responses.

Candidate education. A grantmaker may educate candidates or political parties about issues by providing information or discussing issues with the candidates on its own initiatives or in response to a request for information from a candidate or party. Several cautions should be taken into consideration when providing this information:

Offer or provide all other parties or candidates in the particular race the same materials to avoid any appearance of partisanship.
If the material provided expresses a view on specific legislation, be cautious if providing the material to a candidate who is an incumbent. This is an area where the rules for political activity and lobbying intersect and the rules for lobbying applicable to the grantmaker should be consulted.
Do not develop new materials in response to a request from a candidate or party. This could be viewed as supporting the party or candidate who requested the new material.
Carefully consider whether to ask a candidate or party to pledge support for the grantmaker's position on an issue. Publicizing which candidates or parties pledged to support the grantmaker's position could be seen as support for those who make the pledge.

Typically, educational material that does not reference legislation or presents enough information on all sides of an issue for a reasonable person to reach his or her own conclusions is the ideal material to share.

Final Notes

While the rules governing lobbying activity are beyond the scope of this article, grantmakers should know that they are not required to be silent on policy issues on which they regularly engage solely because it is an election season.

In fact, election season is often a time when the public and policymakers take an increased interest in issues of concern to foundations or grantees. Grantmakers should look for the intersections of the rules for lobbying and political activity when the foundation seeks to engage incumbents or the general public on matters of public policy particularly when expressing a view on pending or proposed legislation or supporting projects that involve such advocacy.

Furthermore, foundation employees and board members in their individual capacities are not barred from engaging in partisan political activity and even running for office themselves solely because of their affiliation with the foundation. The key to keep in mind is that individuals should make it clear that they are not representing the foundation and that foundation resources, such as postage, telephone, photocopiers, e-mail or office space are not used for this individual partisan activity.

Finally, while this article highlights some important aspects of the law on political activity, it is no substitute for a knowledgeable lawyer who is familiar with your foundation's activities.

Advocacy and Lobbying

Rules of Advocacy and Lobbying for Grantmakers

Rules of Advocacy and Lobbying for Grantmakers

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Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers

Public Policy and Advocacy for Grantmakers

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Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits

Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits

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Advocacy Toolkit

Advocacy Toolkit

Basics of Engaging with Congress

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying by Foundations

Take Action

Questions?

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying

Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying

Engaging on Behalf of Your Organization

Direct Lobbying

Grassroots Lobbying

Funding Public Charities that Lobby

Specific Rules by Foundation Type

More Resources:

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Related Events

Related Resources

How to Find Your Members of Congress

How to Find Your Members of Congress

Find your Representative(s)

Find your Senators

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A Guide to Advocacy, Lobbying & Election Related Activity: Navigating the Rules

A Guide to Advocacy, Lobbying & Election Related Activity: Navigating the Rules

A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law: The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources

Lobbying Versus Advocacy

Private Foundations and Policy Engagement

Public Charities: What Rules Apply to Community Foundations

Campaign Intervention: A Blanket Prohibition

Individuals Associated with Foundations

Other Rules that May Apply: Election & Campaign Finance Laws

Accessing this Chapter

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Outreach and Engagement Opportunities

Outreach and Engagement Opportunities

Media Outreach

Online Outreach

Stakeholder Engagement

Questions?

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Checklist for a Successful Meeting with Your Members of Congress

Checklist for a Successful Meeting with Your Members of Congress

How to Make the Most of your meeting

Determine Your Message

Tell Your Story Effectively

Leave-Behind Materials to Bring

Suggested Follow-up

Let us Know how it Went!

Questions?

Related Events

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Election Year Politics: What Foundations Need to Know

Election Year Politics: What Foundations Need to Know

Grantmakers can legally participate in the political process by following guidelines established by the IRS. Here are some tips.

Permissible Nonpartisan Activities

Final Notes

Questions?

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A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources