This article was originally published in the Standards for Excellence® Institute series, “52 Tips in 52 Weeks” in January 2020. The series provides nonprofit leaders with a brief nonprofit governance and management tip weekly over the course of 2020. Standards for Excellence is a Replication Partner of Sacred Sector.
By amy coates madsen
It’s an election year and it’s important for nonprofits to understand what they can and can’t do when it comes to political advocacy. There is a common misconception that nonprofit organizations are legally prohibited from engaging in advocacy or lobbying activities. This is entirely untrue. Nonprofits can advocate and lobby so long as they abide by federal and state regulations. In fact, nonprofits should engage in advocacy in or to represent the interests of the people they serve and “influence public policies that affect the organization’s ability to achieve its mission.” When nonprofits do engage in lobbying and advocacy, expenditures must be disclosed, paid lobbyists or staff that engage in lobbying must be properly registered with the state and Congress if necessary, and most importantly all lobbying and advocacy activities must be nonpartisan. This means that nonprofits may not endorse or imply support for or opposition to a particular candidate or contribute in any way to a political campaign. However, there are numerous ways in which nonprofits can be active during election season, from the provision of nonpartisan study, analysis, or research to the hosting of candidate forums. It is therefore crucial that nonprofits “have a written, board-approved policy on advocacy defining the process by which the organization determines positions on specific issues.” (Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector)
About the Standards for Excellence Institute
The Standards for Excellence® originated as a special initiative of Maryland Nonprofits in 1998 and has since expanded into a national program to help nonprofit organizations achieve the highest benchmarks of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management and operations. The program has been formally adopted by twelve state, regional, and national affiliate organizations. It is supported by over 170 Licensed Consultants and over 100 volunteers with professional experience in nonprofit governance and administration. Since its inception, the program has accredited or recognized over 200 individual nonprofit organizations that completed a rigorous application and review process to demonstrate adherence to the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. www.standardsforexcellence.org.
Amy Coates Madsen is the director of programs for Maryland Nonprofits and the director of the Standards for Excellence Institute, a national initiative to promote the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations, and to facilitate adherence to standards by all organizations. Amy received her Master of Arts in Policy Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies in Baltimore, Maryland, and her bachelor’s degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Amy is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was appointed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to serve on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT), serving one term as the co-chair of the ACT’s Exempt Organizations subcommittee. The Standards for Excellence Institute is a program of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations where Amy has served for more than twenty-four years. Amy is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the association’s comprehensive ethics and accountability program and efforts to replicate the program nationally. She serves as a frequent trainer and writer in the areas of board conduct, program evaluation, program replication, fundraising ethics, and nonprofit management. She has taught courses on nonprofit ethics and accountability at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies Certificate Program on Nonprofit Management.