Great news for nonprofits: The IRS wants you to advocate

(http://newsite NULL.kansasgrassroots NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/irs-logo NULL.jpg)As our name suggests, we here at Kansas Grassroots (http://www NULL.kansasroots NULL.com) believe in grassroots organizing. We believe in its potential, we believe in its power, and we believe that not enough nonprofits are doing it. Many nonprofit entities assume that any advocacy they may engage in will be illegal or too tricky to manage properly. Luckily, that’s not the case.

Nonprofit organizations: You can and should engage in advocacy; the populations you work for need it. Only by directly engaging members of your organization can you determine the needs of the folks you’re helping, and legislators have been proven to respond favorably to grassroots strategies for political change. One of the most common myths we hear about advocacy is that nonprofits can’t advocate or they’ll lose their status. In fact, the opposite is true: the IRS expects that nonprofits will engage in advocacy. They provide generous allowances for advocacy, provided that you know how to navigate those allowances.

It’s important to note here that most confusion over IRS regulations and advocacy capabilities comes from the fuzziness around what defines advocacy versus lobbying. Not all advocacy is lobbying. In fact, most advocacy activities are completely unrestricted. Want to publish a report that calls attention to a pressing problem and illustrates the need for reform? Go for it. Want to educate your members about a particular legislator’s voting record on your issue? It’s fine. According to the Alliance for Justice’s (http://www NULL.afj NULL.org/) nonprofit handbook “Being a Player,” (http://www NULL.afj NULL.org/for-nonprofits-foundations/resources-and-publications/pay-for-publications/being-a-player-1 NULL.html) in order for an advocacy activity to become “lobbying” it must include a clear “call to action” encouraging specific action by a legislative body, (judicial, executive and administrative bodies are fair game) on that specific legislation.

Advocacy, on the other hand, does not refer to specific piece of legislation or reflect a view on it, nor does it directly encourage lobbying. Basically, the door is wide open for distributing nonpartisan fact sheets, producing compelling educational material about societal problems, descriptions of your efforts toward legislative change, references to general policy change, and requests for contributions toward your efforts. Non-lobbying activities are completely unrestricted: go crazy! You can do great work without ever crossing the lobbying line. Within the entire spectrum of advocacy activities you could be doing to advance your cause the vast majority are not restricted by the IRS.

If you do lobby, know your limits as a nonprofit. There are two common legal tests to determine the amount of lobbying you can undertake. First, there’s the “insubstantial part test,” which, according to the Alliance for Justice, requires that “no substantial part of a charity’s activities . . . be carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation.” This is too vague of standard to measure by so we recommend that nonprofits file to be subject to the “section 501(h) expenditure test.” This test sets dollar limits on lobbying according to percentages of your organization’s total expenditures and all it takes to be evaluated against these clear guidelines is to fill out a simple form. (http://www NULL.afj NULL.org/)

Ready to do grassroots work? Fantastic. Kansas Grassroots recommends ordering the invaluable advocacy guide “Being a Player” (https://secure3 NULL.convio NULL.net/afj/site/Ecommerce?ecommerce=store_list&ts=1256839327541&store_id=1241&JServSessionIda003=vddyu47851 NULL.app307d)by the Alliance for Justice and calling into the AFJ’s hotline (http://www NULL.afj NULL.org/utilities/contact-us/) with any questions. Once you’ve decided how you’re going to advocate, call us at 785-813-1130. We’re excited to help you plan your journey to successful grassroots organizing.