Report on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying Posted

The Chronicle of Philanthropy describes a report posted today on the webpage of the John Hopkins Listening Post Project, prepared by Lester Salamon and Stephanie Lessans Geller, with assistance from Susan C. Lorentz.  The report describes a survey conducted in 2007 involving 872 nonprofits concerning advocacy work and lobbying.  Although “no substantial part” of the activities of a 501(c)(3) exempt organization can be influencing legislation, exempt organizations can conduct some amount of lobbying within the rules of IRC 501(c)(3) and 501(h) and can also engage in advocacy work.

The survey found that nearly 3/4 of the nonprofits surveyed engaged in lobbying, but the amount of lobbying was small – mostly less than 2% of their budgets.  Both the nonprofits that did engage in lobbying and those that didn’t indicated that the lack of money and staff was the primary reason they didn’t do more policy and legislative work.

The report suggests that nonprofits should take a stronger role in policy and advocacy work and recommends that nonprofits engage their boards and the people they serve in this work.

The report is “Nonprofit America: A Force for Democracy” and was conducted through the John Hopkins University Centerfor Civil Society Studies.

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