Psychology Dobson 4-MAT Book Review Assignment

Avner chapter 3: Sustaining The Cycle Of Advocacy: Expanding Impact Through Civic Engagement

Avner, M. (2013).  The Lobbying and Advocacy Handbook for Nonprofit Organizations (2nd ed.). Turner Publishing.  https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781618588555

ONTRIBUTOR, JEFF NARABROOK

You have created your advocacy campaign and are ready to go. Congratulations! We hope you are ready to win and that you are in it for the long haul. While specific policy initiatives may be focused on a single legislative session or local-government budget cycle, major social change takes years if not decades to realize. That is why your ongoing advocacy work will be strongest if you adopt a cyclical (rather than linear) model of change. This not only helps insulate your efforts from the vagaries of political fortunes but, done well, even allows you to create favorable conditions to advance your issues.

This Handbook has emphasized attention to sustained work on the Cycle of Advocacy, above. Civic engagement in elections follows a complementary path, the Cycle of Elections. The cycle of civic engagement reflects the ongoing process of engaging voters as part of the approach to improving policies. In our democracy, we elect representatives and hold them accountable for their policy choices in an ongoing sequence of elections. Nonprofits have an impact on policy choices through advocacy and, in elections, through promoting voter participation. Civic engagement may already be a part of your campaign, such as mobilizing community-based support for your position or hosting public discussions on issues. Nonpartisan voter engagement is a particularly powerful form of civic engagement that can advance your cause for the long term.

Advocacy campaigns benefit immensely from an informed voting public that shapes candidates, elects them, and holds them accountable once in office. Your organization can and should play a part in that process. While a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization may not support or oppose, explicitly or implicitly, a candidate or party for public office, there are dozens of legal and effective ways to educate and mobilize voters. When you do this, you not only keep the spotlight on your issues but also build a base of voters to tap later for grassroots activism.

Many organizations advocate for and with people who are disproportionately on the margins of the political process, are less likely to know how to participate and vote at lower rates. Young people, those who are in poverty, and people with only a high school education or less vote at much lower rates. Such disparities can weaken your advocacy campaign. When the lack of voter participation severs the connection between communities and elected officials, fewer of their issues will be heard, and legislators will be less responsive to community needs. Elected officials feel accountable to those who show up at the polls.

The good news is that nonprofits already have the skills and assets needed to be successful at voter engagement. Your organization already interacts with potential voters who are clients, constituents, staff, volunteers, or board members. When trusted organizations engage voters, they tend to be more willing and interested in participating. Moreover, as nonpartisan entities, you can promote issues that matter to voters without wading into partisan electoral politics. All these conditions position your organization for success in voter registration, voter education, and voter mobilization.

Voter registration is required to vote in nearly every state and is an important first step. When planning voter-engagement activities, consider the kind of contact you already have with your constituents, members, and volunteers. How can you maximize these interactions as an opportunity for voter registration? Registration drives should educate the public about the importance of voting, and activities cannot show bias for or against any candidate or party. Nonprofits can target areas in nonpartisan ways. For instance, you may target low-turnout areas, low-income populations, minority populations, students, and the areas or people you serve.

Once your nonprofit registers a voter, there are many opportunities to educate him or her about issues and the voting process and to make sure they get to the polls on Election Day. You may choose to host or co-sponsor a candidate forum to help your community familiarize itself with candidates and where they stand on the issues. Likewise, you can create and distribute nonpartisan candidate questionnaires or voter guides. These activities must be open to all candidates, be conducted in a balanced way, and include a broad range of nonpartisan questions for the candidates.

Many organizations also create fact sheets and information on the key issues that affect their organization or the people they serve. During an election year, these may be included as a part of your voter-education efforts. Organizations can demystify the voting process by explaining where, when, and how to vote. You can also provide information about who is on the ballot and any ballot-measure questions in play by providing sample ballots.

Voter-mobilization activities help motivate and assist potential voters to get to their polling places and cast their ballot. In the days and months leading up the election, having conversations with voters can be very effective. Remind them to vote and ask if they know where and when to vote. You can do this through face-to-face conversations at your office, organized community door-knocks, or phone banks to supporters and participants of your organization. You may also decide to host an Election Day celebration in the community to tap into the social nature of civic participation. Some organizations distribute door-hangers, send direct-mail pieces, and pass out leaflets and other handouts with basic information about polling-place hours and where to call for assistance in locating their polling place. Nonprofits can also provide transportation for voters to the polls.

In addition to connecting candidates to voters, you can make presentations on your organization's issue to political-party platform committees, campaign staff, candidates, media, and the public. Just as elected officials rely on community knowledge and expertise to inform their policy work, so too do candidates rely on organizations to brief them on important issues in their community. Consider sending an informational packet to the slate of candidates running for a particular office. After the election, you can loop back to the winners and continue building their knowledge and your relationship with them.

Nonprofits can ask voters to support or oppose ballot-measure questions, which the IRS classifies as direct lobbying and not electioneering (IRS guidelines regulating your total amount of lobbying still pertain). You can adopt an organizational position for or against a question; educate staff, board, donors, volunteers, and program participants about what it means; or connect to a ballot-measure campaign to provide resources, such as space, staff time, e-mail lists, or funding.

Your voter-engagement work connects back to your legislative advocacy in a powerful way. To maximize your impact, find ways to gather contact information for those you engage (if you do not have it already) so that, after the election, you can match those lists to the public voting roles. When your issues are up for action in the legislature, call upon this unique set of voters who have a stake in the issue and bring with them the power of their constituency.

The following checklist comes from Nonprofit VOTE, a national nonprofit that assists nonprofits in helping the people they serve to vote. Find more factsheets, toolkits, and state-specific rules at www.nonprofitvote.org.

Getting started with voter engagement: A CHECKLIST

Contributed by Josh Wise

Get started

Before you begin, think about why this work is important. Make a list of the benefits to your organization, your community, and the individuals you serve. This might include advancing your issues, building clout, or empowering your clients by promoting engaged and active citizenship.

Capacity

Get buy-in from your Executive Director or other leadership

Choose a staff lead who can involve and motivate other staff and volunteers

Consider ways to engage the people you serve in your election activities

Identify assistance and resources from a community partner, your local or state elections office

Knowledge

Understand the guidelines for 501(c)(3)s on how to stay nonpartisan

Learn about voting in your state—deadlines, how to register, and early voting options

Find out what's on the ballot in your locality and state for the upcoming election

Plans

Choose your target audience—clients, constituents, staff, your local community, or others

Select appropriate opportunities for engagement: as part of daily services, in classes, at trainings or events, as a project for a youth group, or incorporated into community outreach

Create a specific timeline for your plan

Voter registration

Decide on your approach. Some nonprofits actively register voters, while others focus on promoting registration by announcing deadlines, making forms available, or helping voters register online. If you plan to conduct voter registration make sure to:

Familiarize yourself with your state's voter registration procedures at www.canivote.org.

Set concrete and attainable goals and tie them to deadlines

Target pre-existing opportunities—as part of services, tabling in your lobby, at events, or in the community at citizenship ceremonies, graduations, or other events

Enlist volunteers and staff to enhance your efforts

Engaging candidates

Plan at least one activity that engages local candidates on your issues.

Identify a race that's important to your community—city council, mayor, state representative, congressional representative, or others

Choose from five main candidate engagement options: Candidate Forums, Candidate Appearances, Sharing Research, Candidate Questionnaires, or Asking Questions at events

Be familiar with nonpartisan guidelines for candidate work, which requires equal treatment of all candidates in the same race

Ballot measures

The majority of states ask voters to weigh in on laws, referendums, constitutional amendments, local bond issues for public programs, and other issues.

Find out if any ballot measures, amendments, or other questions are on the ballot

Learn what 501(c)(3) nonprofits can do to influence passage and educate the public

Decide your approach: Will you take a position for or against the issue? Or will you stay neutral and share nonpartisan information highlighting both sides of the issue?

Voter education

There are two kinds of voter education. The first covers the when, where, and how of voting, while the second identifies what's on the ballot.

Identify voter-education opportunities at your events, classes, and in your communications

Develop an internal and external communications plan for the election

Get out the vote and Election Day

Don't forget that some of the most important work happens near and on Election Day when you encourage, help, and mobilize your community to vote. The final push takes preparation and a clear understanding of the payoff: research shows that the most effective messages come from trusted messengers—people of similar interests and backgrounds—made in-person or through peer-to-peer social media. You can activate voters simply by:

Promoting early voting by mail or in person

Providing personal reminders

Giving out information to help your community vote—help lines or polling hours and locations

Linking the election to the future of your issue or nonprofit services

Making Election Day special by treating it as a holiday for democracy!

See the sample materials on the following page for Voter Registration Drives. For additional materials and ongoing updates, go to www.mnparticipationproject.org.