Non Profit Lobbying Guide

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NonprofitLobbyingGuide

by Bob Smucker

The

Second Edition


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Copyright 1999 INDEPENDENTSECTOR

ISBN 0-929556-00-3


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In memory of a good friend and colleague,

Skip Helsing


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Contents

Preface viii

Organization of the Book x

Part One: How to Lobby 11 Anyone Can Lobby 3

Lobbying Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Legislative Process and Your Lobbyist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The Government Relations Committee and the Legislative Network . . . . . . . 5

2 The Nonprofit Lobbyist and the Legislative Process 6

The Legislative Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Nonprofits Legislative Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Selecting Your Leader in the Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Introducing Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Role of the Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Action on the House and Senate Floors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The House/Senate Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Action by the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Facts About Legislators and the Legislative Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Staff in Legislatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lobbying the Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Enlisting the Help of the Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Getting the Presss Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3 Effective Communications: The Keyto Mobilizing Your Lobbying Strength 16

Newer Communications Technologies for Mobilizing Support . . . . . . . . . . 17

E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Faxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Telephone Routing Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Zip Code Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Whats the Best Technology to Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Feedback and Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Tallies of Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Frequency of Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Staying with the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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4 How to Communicate Effectively with Legislators 23

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Personal Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Phone Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

E-mail and Faxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Telegrams, Mailgrams, and Form Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Other Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5 Developing Grassroots Action Through a Legislative Network 34

Keeping Your Network Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Keeping Up-to-Date Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6 Maximizing Your Impact with Coalitions 39

Organizing a Coalition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Working with a Coalition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

7 Guidelines on Using a Government Relations Committee 42How to Structure Your Government Relations Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Leading the Government Relations Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Running the Committee Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

8 Lobbying Through the Media 45

Press Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Press Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Other Media Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Special Opportunities with Radio and Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Part Two: A Guide to Technical IssuesRelated to Lobbying by 501(c)(3) Organizations 49

9 The 1976 Lobby Law and 1990 IRS Regulations: An Overview 51

Nonprofit Lobbying: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

What Groups Are Affected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

How Does the Tax Law Regulate Public Charities Lobbying? . . . . . . . 52

What Are the Main Elements of the 1976 Law? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

What Spending Counts Against the Limits? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

When Does Later Use of Materials in Lobbying CauseTheir Costs to Be Counted as Lobbying? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Does Electing to Be Governed by the New RegulationsComplicate Receiving Grants from Foundations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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When Will a Nonprofits Transfers to a Lobbying OrganizationBe Counted as Lobbying Expenditures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

How Are Expenditures That Have Both Lobbying andNonlobbying Purposes Treated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

When Are Several Nonprofits Treated on an Aggregate Basis? . . . . . . . 62

For Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Election Procedure for Nonprofits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

10 Special Issues and Regulations 65

Lobbying by Nonprofits on Initiatives and Referenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Voter Education by Nonprofits During a Political Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Electioneering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Candidates Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Questionnaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Voting Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Public Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Testimony on Party Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Issue Briefings and Candidates' Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Membership Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Indirect Lobbying Through a 501(c)(4) Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Individual and Political Action Committee (PAC) Contributionsto Political Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

OMB Circular A-122Restrictions on Nonprofits That Lobbyand Receive Federal Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Lobbying and Political Activity Provisions of Circular A-122 . . . . . . . . . . . 71

What Is Not Lobbying? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Amount of Lobbying Permitted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Record Keeping and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Lobbying with Private Foundation Grants andCorporate Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Reporting Lobbying Expenditures to the IRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Registering and Filing Reports Under the LobbyingDisclosure Act of 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Rules for Lawmaker Gifts and Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

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Part Three: Why Lobby in the Public Interest? 79

How I Became a Nonprofit Lobbyistby Bev Adcock, Executive Director, The ARC of Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Thoughts about Lobbying by Volunteersby Hilda H. Robbins, Volunteer Lobbyist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Why I Lobby in the Public Interest

by John Sparks, Vice President for Government Affairs andPublic Policy, American Symphony Orchestra League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Why Public Interest Advocacy?by Eden Fisher Durbin, Director, Public Policy, YMCA of the USA . . . . . . . . . 90

Charity Lobbying in the Public Interestby Dorothy A. Johnson, President and CEO,Council of Michigan Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Being a Public Interest Lobbyist Is Something to Write Home Aboutby David Cohen, Co-Director, Advocacy Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Resources

Resource A: Questions from Real-Life Examples RegardingActivities Related to Lobbying and Voter Education by Nonprofits . . . . . . 105

Resource B: Lobbying by Nonprofits: A Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Resource C: Questions and Answers Regarding the Lawand Lobbying by Nonprofits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Resource D: How to Win the Advocacy Game:Rarified Air, by Doug Siglin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Resource E: Examples of Media Ads and Legislative Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Resource F: IRS Form 5768 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Resource G: Organizations and Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

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Preface

This is a handbook for volunteers and staff of charitable organizations,especially new volunteers and staff, to help them take advantage of theliberal rules for lobbying by charities.* These rules make it possible forcharities to lobby freely for their causes and clients. It is very clear that thefederal government, including Congress and the Internal Revenue Service

(IRS), supports lobbying by charities. Congress sent that unambiguousmessage when it enacted the generous provisions in the 1976 lobby law.**The same message came from the IRS, in new regulations issued onAugust 31, 1990, which support both the spirit and the intent of the1976 legislation. Together, the law and the new regulations provide plentyof leeway for charities to lobby.

It is my hope that this book will encourage volunteers and staff of charitiesto be bold in their lobbying to enact laws and pass appropriations that willaid those they seek to serve. I intend the book especially for volunteers andstaff who are concerned about helping to achieve greater equity in thesharing of this nations vast resourcespeople who are working to change

public policy in order to assist the most vulnerable in our society.

Those who are new to charity volunteer or staff work may be inclinedto place lobbying at the bottom of the list of abilities they want todevelop. They may believe that it is too complex to master, perhaps a bittainted, and maybe even illegal, or they may assign it low priority becausethey already have a number of other well-honed skills that they canimmediately put to work for their organizations. Once involved in theprocess, however, most people find that lobbying is not difficult to learnand that the organizing skills they already possess are easily transferred toinfluencing legislation for the people they serve. And, far from its being

disreputable or illegal, most people discover that lobbying is a perfectlylegitimate, reasonable, and personally rewarding way of fulfilling theirorganizations public purposes.

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* Charitable organization, as used throughout this book, refers only to organizations that are tax-exemptunder Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Private foundations are tax exempt under thatSection but (with important exceptions) are not permitted to lobby.

** The term 1976 lobby law is used throughout this book for legislation passed in 1976Section 1307 ofPL 94-455that clarifies and expands lobbying by tax-exempt charities under Section 501(c)(3) of theInternal Revenue Code. The legislation does not apply to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, orconventions or associations of churches that at their own request, remain under the pre-1976 provision.These groups may lobby, but remain under the insubstantial rule, explained on pp. 6263.


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In Part Three, six charity leaders tell their stories about how muchlobbying has meant for their causes, their organizations, and their lives.Several also tell what they have learned about how to lobby effectively.In particular, David Cohen, co-founder of The Advocacy Institute anda man who has been involved in some of the countrys most important

public policy struggles of the past 35 years, offers many insights aboutpublic interest lobbying. David discusses how lobbying has changed, whatthese changes mean for public interest lobbyists, and what combination ofvalues, skills, attitudes, and knowledge make someone an effective publicinterest lobbyist.

If you are just getting started, the lobbying tips offered in this book shouldbe helpful as you make your first contacts with legislators. But even if youare not altogether new to lobbying and are looking for additional ideasfor your work, you will find a full menu. If you are more experienced atlobbying but are, for example, at the crucial point where you seek asponsor for legislation that your group wants introduced, I think you will

find the strategic advice in this book helpful.

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Organization of the Book

The Nonprofit Lobbying Guideis divided into three parts. Part Oneprovides how-to information on lobbying by charities. Almost everynational organization has written a manual on how to influence legislation.Each charitys organizational structure is different, and so it is not possibleto provide detailed how-to information that will fit every groups needs.

There are, however, some approaches to lobbying that seem to accomplishthe job for almost all charities, and those approaches are included here.

Part Two gives information, in laypersons language, concerning a numberof technical questions: How much lobbying by charities is legal underfederal law? How do the new IRS regulations on lobbying by charitiesaffect the amount of lobbying you can do? Can a private foundation grantfunds to a charity that lobbies? What information on the views of acandidate for public office can a charity provide to its members? What arethe federal requirements for disclosure of lobbying activities?

Most of the technical information applies equally to lobbying at the

federal, state, and local levels. Part One, the how-to section, however, dealsprincipally with federal legislation, although much of the information isreadily adapted to state or local lobbying.

Part Three includes statements from six noted charity leadersrangingfrom long-time lobbyists to life-long volunteersabout why they lobby inthe public interest. The main purpose of this section is to encourage staffof charities, especially those beginning their professional lives, to considerlobbying for charities as a career choice. The statements provide ampleevidence of the enormous satisfaction that comes from charity lobbying byboth volunteers and staff.

These six leaders collectively have decades of experience with charitylobbying, and many of them offer some very practical lessons in how todo it well. This is particularly true of the longer essay by David Cohen,co-founder of The Advocacy Institute, who has been involved in manyof this countrys most important lobbying campaigns during the pastthree decades.

INDEPENDENT SECTORoften receives questions from the Members aboutreal-life situations regarding what constitutes lobbying or voter educationactivities. Resource A provides 10 examples of such questions alongwith answers.

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In all candor, parts of this book may be less than compelling and will nottempt you to burn the midnight oil. Therefore, I have included asummary in Resource B for readers interested in skimming the bookquickly for the main points.

The other resources contain material helpful to lobbyists. Resource C

offers answers to some often-asked questions about lobbying; Resource Dreprints the article How to Win the Advocacy Game, by Doug Siglin;Resource E consists of examples of lobbying materials to help you getstarted; Resource F reprints IRS form 5768, which a charity must file toelect to come under the provisions of the 1976 lobby law; and Resource Glists addresses of organizations that are mentioned in the book so that youcan contact them for additional information.

This book, especially Part Two, is intended to provide enough informationso that new volunteers and staff will have an elementary understandingof lobbying and will know where to find more information. It is not

intended to replace legal counsel. If you have questions regarding thetechnical information, you should seek legal advice. However, it isimportant to keep in mind that lawyers, with some notable exceptions,tend to be much too cautious in counseling charities about lobbying.Their usual advice is to tread very lightly, if at all, in the lobbying arena.Thats questionable advice, at best, stemming from the fact that too manylawyers are not well acquainted with the lobbying law. It is perfectlyacceptable to probe the advice of lawyers, so that you can be very certainthat they know the latitude permitted to charities under the law, includingthe 1976 lobby law.

The Nonprofit Lobbying Guidegrew out of what I have learned over

more than 25 years from lobbying on behalf of charitable organizationsand working with some extraordinarily talented volunteer and stafflobbyists. I hope it will be a useful guide, but it is simply that: a guide.You dont need to know or practice most of what is in this book to getstarted lobbying. Dont be put off by what may appear to be a mountainof information. Skim through it, take what you needand good luck!

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Acknowledgments

Virtually all the information in Chapter Nine was drawn from materialsprepared for INDEPENDENT SECTORby Walter B. Slocombe of Caplin &Drysdale, Washington, D.C. I am grateful that INDEPENDENT SECTORandMr. Slocombe have permitted me to use that important information.

Substantial portions of Chapter Ten were taken, with permission, from

writings of Sandford F. Brandt. As a volunteer for both the NationalMental Health Association and INDEPENDENT SECTOR, Brandt has writtenon many issues related to lobbying. I am grateful that he permitted me toexcerpt so fully from his writings. I am also grateful for his very helpfulsuggestions on this book. Information in Chapter Ten on Gifts to FederalLawmakers and on the Lobby Disclosure Act of 1995, were taken fromwritings by Eric Wentworth, for INDEPENDENT SECTOR.

I am also grateful for the help from Gary Bass and Patrick Lemmon forthe assistance in Chapters Three and Five where I give information on thenew technologies important to lobbying communications by charities.

Gary Bass wrote much of the Section on OMB Circular A-122.Final decisions regarding the content of this book were mine, but Iowe much to others for their critiques and suggestions. They includeMathew Ahmann, Gary Bass, the late Philip Bernstein, Gregory L. Colvin,John Colvin, the late Lee Goodman, Julee Kryder-Coe, Brian OConnell,Hilda Robbins, Walter B. Slocombe, Barbara Mills Smucker, Thomas A.Troyer, and Edward T. Weaver. I am especially indebted to Brenda Lee and

Jill Yothers, who typed and edited numerous revisions of the manuscript.

Bob SmuckerWashington, D.C.

January 1999

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The Author

Bob Smucker, vice president for government relations at INDEPENDENTSECTORfrom 1980 to 1998, has worked with nonprofit organizationssince 1957. His background includes more than 25 years as a lobbyist atthe local, state, and national levels.

From 1957 to 1971, he worked in Pennsylvania with local mental health

associations, as well as with the Pennsylvania Mental Health Association, astatewide citizens advocacy organization. During that time, his lobbyingactivities included a leading role in the enactment of legislation, passed in1966, that provided for the development and funding of communitymental health centers. He was also involved in a successful effort to get theUnited Steel Workers of America to include ambulatory mental healthcoverage in its nationwide contract with the steel industry.

From 1971 to 1979, Smucker was director of public policy for theNational Mental Health Association. During that time, he was centrallyinvolved in the enactment of the 1976 lobby law, which clarified and

expanded the lobbying rights of nonprofits. He was also a principal actorin obtaining continued federal funding for community mental healthcenters. He had chief responsibility for developing a mental healthcoalition that brought successful litigation resulting in the release of$127 million in impounded mental health research and training fundsby the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He also providedstaff leadership for litigation brought by the National Mental HealthAssociation and other groups in the successful effort to end unpaid patientlabor in state mental hospitals.

The authors activities with INDEPENDENT SECTORhave included workingwith the advocacy community to organize and provide leadership for the

coalition that convinced the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to withdrawrestrictive proposed regulations governing lobbying. That coalition alsoworked with the IRS to develop sound new regulations. The author alsohad senior staff responsibility in developing and providing coordinationfor a coalition that acted to have the Office of Management and Budgetwithdraw proposed regulations that would have greatly curtailed the rightsof nonprofits to lobby with the funds they receive from private contribu-tions. In 1995-96, he had a lead role, again working with the advocacy

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community in turning aside a number of efforts by CongressmanErnest Istook (R-OK) to sharply reduce or disallow lobbying by nonprofitsthat receive federal funds. Smucker has also had principal staff responsibili-ty for INDEPENDENT SECTORs involvement in three Supreme Court casesrelated to the fund-raising activities of nonprofits. All three cases were

decided in favor of the First Amendment rights of nonprofits.Smucker currently is project director of Charity Lobbying in the PublicInterest, a project of INDEPENDENT SECTOR, an initiative whose objectiveis to encourage nonprofits to consider lobbying as an important, effectivemeans of achieving their missions.

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1

How toLobby

Part One


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The personnel manager of a large

midwestern manufacturingcompany once told me that job

descriptions, even for junior executives,are often drawn up by well-intentionedbut unknowing staff to include require-ments so demanding that not even thepresident of the company could fulfillthem. How-to books can suffer from thesame problem. They dont distinguishbetween what you have to know and allthe other things that could be helpful but

are not absolutely essential.The information in this book is not a

description of what you need to knowor the experience you must haveto getstarted. Nobody, not even the mostseasoned lobbyist, does all or even closeto half of it. All your organization needsas you start lobbying is a staff person orvolunteer who has a little knowledge oflobbying techniques; has an elementaryunderstanding of how the legislative

process works in whatever body you areplanning to lobby, whether Congress,the state legislature, county government,or the city council; can organize agovernment relations committee thatwill consider the legislative issues yourorganization may want to tackle; canorganize volunteers to form a legislativenetwork; and has a passing knowledge ofthe law governing lobbying by nonprofits.

Much of the information you need

to start lobbying probably is readilyavailable in your own community. Anumber of nonprofits, civic organizations,and public-spirited citizens have been

lobbying for years and would becomplimented if your group asked themfor help in understanding the areas justdescribed. For example, the League ofWomen Voters could be particularlyhelpful. Several other groups, includingenvironmental organizations and most of

the major health organizations (such asthe heart, lung, cancer, and disabilitygroups), would have considerable lobbyingknowledge and would probably haveaffiliates in your community. Also,INDEPENDENT SECTORand CharityLobbying in the Public Interest canprovide advice to help you get started.

Lobbying Law

Before you start lobbying, you should

know a little about the law governinglobbying by nonprofits. The 1976 lobbylaw and regulations provide very generouslobbying limits. You should know whatthe law says about how much of yourorganizations annual expenditures can gofor lobbying and what activities aredefined as lobbying, but the mostimportant point to keep in mind is thatthe law permits ample room for all thelobbying your group will probably want

to undertake. It is very simple to elect tocome under the provisions of the law (seeChapter 9 for details).

If you have questions about whetherthe amount of lobbying you want toconduct is within the law, discuss it withother nonprofits that lobby extensively, aswell as with your attorney. But rememberthat attorneys almost always err on theside of extreme caution in counselingnonprofits about lobbying. If you ask

your lawyer for advice, be certain that heor she not only knows the lobby law well(only a few do) but, even more

3

Anyone Can Lobby

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important, also is familiar with theexperience of organizations that havelobbied under the law. Groups havefound plenty of legal latitude forlobbying, without jeopardizing theirtax-exempt status.

The Legislative Process andYour Lobbyist

It is important to have a volunteer or staffperson in your organization who knowsthe basics of how your legislature works,because you will need that information toknow how to target your efforts. Forexample, you may be trying to blocklegislation averse to your group, helpsupport pending legislation backed byyour organization, or arrange the

introduction of legislation vital to yourgroup. In the typical legislature, toachieve any of these aims, you will haveto gain the support of the committeedesignated to consider your issue. Itfollows that you will need to knowsomething about the composition of thatcommittee. For example, if you areseeking to have legislation introduced, itis usually possible to recruit a committeemember to introduce your bill. But you

wont want just any member. You willwant a person of influence, and thatusually means a senior committeemember whose party is in the majorityand therefore controls the committee.

It is incidentally helpful to know thatmany decisions on legislation are oftenmade in a last-minute frenzy as legislatorsprepare to adjourn for the legislativesession. The lobbyist (whether a volunteeror a paid staff member) who is following

your issue in the legislature should haveenough understanding of how the

legislative process works so that yourgroup can make the right move at theright place and time (for example,knowing whether to support or oppose anamendment that suddenly comes up).

Your lobbyist needs to recognize, forexample, whether this is the last chance to

modify your bill or if you still have areasonable chance for the changes youwant in the other house of the legislature.A lobbyist who knows (among otherthings) the best legislator to introduceyour bill and how and when decisions aremade in your legislature is referred to asan inside lobbyist.

Having a seasoned insider availableto your organization can save youenormous time and effort. Perhaps

volunteers or staff people bring suchexperience to your group from their workwith other nonprofits. If not, such groupsas the League of Women Voters can helpyour group develop an understandingof how your legislature really works.Former legislators or those currentlyin office can also be very helpful.Nationally, the Advocacy Institute,INDEPENDENT SECTOR, and CharityLobbying in the Public Interest, among

other organizations, can provide how-toinformation about lobbying by nonprofits(see Resource G).

If you have the funds, it is possibleto hire a good, experienced lobbyingconsultant. If you choose that route,check with other nonprofits whoseopinions you value highly and who haveused consultants to lobby. The best way

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of being certain that you are getting theright person is to check his or her trackrecord with other groups. Consultantsshould be pleased to give you the namesof groups for which they have lobbied.

The Government Relations

Committee and theLegislative Network

Your organization will need to set up agovernment relations committee toconsider how your groups program canbe furthered by legislative initiatives. Thecommittee will also establish legislativepriorities and provide direction for thegroups lobbying efforts. A stronggovernment relations committee thatrepresents a broad cross-section of your

community can add immeasurably to theimpact of your lobbying efforts. In usinga government relations committee, it isenormously important to hold firmly toone top legislative priority, rather thanfollowing the more common route oftrying to work on many issues at once.(This point and others are covered inChapter 7.)

A nonprofits principal lobbyingpower resides in the number of its

members that it can get behind itslegislation. To achieve that objective,most groups set up a legislative networkto mobilize the grassroots network (seeChapter 4). At the minimum, yournetwork should assign one volunteer,capable of enlisting others in his or hercommunity, as a contact person for eachmember of the legislative committee(s)that will act on your bill. If there are 20members of a legislative committee that

will act on your bill, 20 contact personsshould be recruited.

Establishing and maintaining thenetwork takes time and commitmentbecause it is tedious, time-consumingwork. It is easy to put off establishing anetwork and even easier to neglect it once

it is set up. A nonprofit neglects itsnetwork at great risk, however. Without anetwork, there may be no chance tomobilize broad support on short notice.That kind of quick mobilization may beneeded repeatedly during a legislativecampaign.

In short, you need very little to getstarted. As we have seen, it helps to havea volunteer or a staff person who has anelementary understanding of basic

lobbying techniques and of the lobbyingprocess, as well as some organizing skills.As in all activities that involve people,common sense helps immeasurably.

Dont be put off by the amount ofinformation in this book. If you can pickup a pen or the phone, you can lobby. Justgo ahead. Get started, and keep in mindthat lobbying and the legislative processare not nearly as complicated or difficultas lobbyists would have you believe.

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Anonprofits power to affectlegislation comes from itsgrassroots strengththe

quality and number of letters, othercommunications, and personal contactsits members make with legislators. Everyone of an organizations members whocommunicates with a legislator is, in avery real sense, a lobbyist. Nevertheless,every organization that participates in thelegislative process needs a volunteer or

staff lobbyist who has some in-depthknowledge of the legislative process andcan help provide direction for the groupslegislative activities. This chapter describesthe work of that principal lobbyist. Anonprofits principal power does not residein its lobbyist at the capital, because he orshe does not live, work, and vote in thelegislators district. But a skilled lobbyist,whether a volunteer or a paid staffmember, can contribute greatly to the

development of the groups impact onlegislation by providing effective liaisonbetween the legislature and the nonprofitsgrassroots.

Many nonprofits that are just startingto lobby recruit volunteers who haveknowledge of and some experience withthe legislative process. Over time, suchgroups often hire part-time or full-timestaff or consultants to augment theirlobbying capability. Many others

continue very effectively with volunteersin the principal lobbying role. Theimportant point is that you dont need apaid lobbyist to get started or even to

conduct a sophisticated lobbyingprogram. The League of Women Voters,for example, has few paid lobbyists, butthe group is well known and respected forthe skills its volunteers bring togovernment relations, including lobbying.

To get started, your lobbyist needs

to know or be able to learn quickly thefollowing things:! The basics about the legislative

process and the key committeemembers or other legislators whohave either jurisdiction or influenceover your legislation and can affectits movement;

! The details of the bill you aresupporting and why its provisionsare important to the legislators

constituents and to yourorganization; and

! The organizational structure ofyour group and how it communicateswith its grassroots.

More important, the person whowill be your lobbyist should have strongskills in interpersonal relations. Aprospective lobbyist for your group maybring great understanding of government,

its processes, and its key members, butif the relationship skills are absent, dontgive him or her the job. This candidatewill lack the most fundamental attributeof a good nonprofit lobbyist. It would bebetter to take on a person who has nolobbying experience but has demonstratedinterpersonal skills and the ability toorganize. Most such persons can be taughtto lobby, but chances are that you willnot be able to change the performance

of the person who brings understandingof the process but lacks soundinterpersonal skills.

6

The Nonprofit Lobbyistand the Legislative Process

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You will be tempted to take theperson who lacks the relationship skillsbut has the knowledge, especially if he orshe is articulate. If you do, however, overtime you will probably find yourselffollowing after the lobbyist at the statecapitol and trying to mend relationships.

Worse yet, word wont get back to youabout your lobbyist because of peoplesnatural reluctance to pass along negativeinformation; you will just find that yourlobbyist is having difficulty gainingaccess. Again, if you have to make thechoice, go with the relationship andorganizing skills.

The principal responsibility of yourorganizations lobbyist is to workeffectively for enactment of your groups

legislation. The success or failure of yourlegislation depends considerably on howwell your lobbyist can orchestrate themovement of your bill through thelegislature and on how effective he or sheis in mobilizing your grassroots. Bothtasks require an understanding of thelegislative process. More important, themovement of your legislation requiresthat you recruit a strong member of thelegislature to take the lead on your

measure.

The Legislative Process

You are interested in the legislativeprocess because of something you wantor do not wantlegislators to do. To bemost effective in influencing thelegislative process, you must have a feelfor how it works.

Legislation begins with the executive(the president, the governor, and so on),

or it starts with an individual member ofthe legislature. Once started, thelegislation goes to committees of bothhouses, and then it is acted on by one

house, after which it goes to the otherhouse and finally to a conferencecommittee. The conference committee,composed of members of both houses,works out any differences betweenversions of the legislation passed by thetwo houses. The measure ultimately goes

to the executive, to be either signed intolaw or vetoed. At each step, the measurecan be stopped, changed, or passed alongto the next stage of the process. Thosedecisions are made by individualmembers of the committee to which thelegislation is referred, or they are made bythe full House or Senate if the measurehas moved out of committee. Each stepcan be influenced by your organization,as can the executives decision to sign or

veto the bill.

The NonprofitsLegislative Proposal

Legislation initiated by a nonprofitorganization usually starts with a programidea that the group thinks would not onlymake good public policy but also helpachieve its own mission. Typically, such aproposal is considered first by thenonprofits government relations

committee and then by its board. Next,according to the importance of theproposed legislative initiative, theproposal may go before the groups totalmembership. Early in this process, it willbe important for the organization to getinformation about the viability of thelegislative proposal from a person whoknows both the legislature and the majorforces that will be working for or againstthe measure.

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Selecting Your Leaderin the Legislature

The key step in the legislative process ismoving your bill to a successful vote incommittee. Virtually no major legislationis enacted without having beenconsidered by committee. Once that

hurdle is passed, prospects are usuallygood for the bill s enactment by thathouse. Central to your success is thestrength of the committee member whohas agreed to take the lead on yourmeasure.

A skilled lobbyist, whether avolunteer or a staff member, can beenormously helpful to you in recruitingthe right person. You will want to choosethe most influential committee member

of the party that controls the committee.Likewise, for bipartisan balance, you willalso want to approach the strongestperson from the minority side of thecommittee to join in leading the effort.Often, of course, you wont be able toenlist the most influential committeemembers; they will be very much indemand among many other groups. Youmay have to adjust your sights and turnto another consideration: commitment to

your issue, another important criterion inselecting your leader. Recruiting acommittee member who is influential butdoes not strongly support your measurecan easily lead to disappointment andprobably defeat, especially if your bill iscompeting in committee with other billsthat the legislator supports more strongly.

A criterion of almost equalimportance is the skill and commitmentof the legislative staff person whom your

legislative leader assigns to your measure.A strong, skilled staff person who likesyour issue can sometimes compensate forhis or her bosss modest interest and

power within the committee. Conversely,lack of skill and interest on the part ofthis staff member can add significantly tothe difficulty of moving your measurethrough, even if the legislator hasinfluence with the committee and likesyour issue. On balance, a skilled staff

person working for a legislator who hasmore than a passing interest in your bill isa strong combination. Knowledge aboutthe influence and power of the actors,both legislators and staff, is what yourlobbyist must bring to your organization.

Introducing Legislation

To have legislation drafted, a memberof Congress may consult with thelegislative counsel of the House or Senate

to frame the ideas in suitable legislativelanguage and form. In Congress, thelegislation is introduced on the floor ofthe House and the Senate, and it isassigned a bill number. Members whointroduce legislation are called sponsors,and they often submit statements tothe Congressional Recordprovidingthe rationale for their support. ACongressional Recordstatement maybe an important resource for a nonprofit

in generating support for a measure.Often, the member of Congress alsoissues a press release or similar statementabout the legislation, which describes themeasures importance in language that iseasy for a nonprofit to adapt for use withits members.

After the legislation is introduced, theRules Committee in each house assigns itto the committee responsible forconsidering its type of legislation. The

nonprofit should seek bipartisan supportfor its proposal by recruiting strongbacking from Democrats and Republicanson the committees to which the

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legislation is assigned. (The nonprofitsmembers will also be most likely to givetheir own strong support if both partiesare well represented.)

Soon afterward, the sponsors maysend a letter, called a Dear Colleagueletter, to every member of their house or

to every member of their committee,explaining why they have introduced themeasure and inviting members of theirhouse to sign on as cosponsors. Becausethe number of members who cosponsor abill gives an indication of support for themeasure, nonprofits, working throughlocal affiliates, often strive hard to recruita large number of cosponsors. Thenumber of cosponsors is not the true testof a bills strength, however. Its strength is

tested in the committee to which it isreferred.

Role of the Committee

After the bill is assigned to a committee,the chair of the committee sends itto the appropriate subcommittee forconsideration. Favorable action on themeasure at the subcommittee and fullcommittee levels is almost always a makeor break situation for the measure. If it

succeeds in getting out of subcommittee(especially with a strong majority ofmembers voting in support), it usuallygets favorable consideration in the fullcommittee. Full committees do not liketo second-guess the work of theirsubcommittees, and so they are ofteninclined to accept in its entirety, or onlywith modest modifications, the legislationcoming out of their subcommittees.

It is crucial that each member of the

subcommittee be contacted by a numberof constituents who support the

legislation. That is the most importantaction that a nonprofit can take. Ifyou cant get favorable action insubcommittee, your proposal will havelittle chance of becoming law. The nextmost important step is to contact allmembers of the full committee and enlist

their support. A bill may be lodged incommittee for a year or longer, so there isusually ample time for a nonprofit togenerate continuing grassroots contactwith committee members.

Subcommittees and full committeesoften hold hearings on legislation, toget the views of a diverse group ofindividuals, organizations, and businessessupporting or opposing a measure.Nonprofits are wise to work closely with

committees in setting up hearings andensuring that there will be witnesseswho favor their positions (see Chapter 4).Hearings can be very important inbuilding support for your proposal.Nevertheless, they pale by comparisonwith the importance of being certain thateach committee member is contacted by anumber of key constituents who supportthe legislation.

After hearings, a subcommittee meets

to do its final decision making (called amark-up) on the bill and votes on it. Bythe time the mark-up stage arrives, mostmembers of the committee will havedecided whether they support themeasure, and so nonprofits dare not waituntil that point to make their contacts.That work has to be done in thepreceding weeks, months, and even years.

Representatives of the nonprofit willwant to be present when the legislation is

marked up. (Congressional mark-ups areoften closed, and so youll have to wait inthe hall outside the conference room. Beassured that you will have plenty of

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company.) The sponsor of the legislationmay find that the only way your proposalcan receive a favorable vote is throughcompromise. The legislator or thelegislators staff person must be able, ona moments notice, to contact aspokesperson for the nonprofit and

find out whether the compromise isacceptable. Before the mark-up, theperson speaking for the nonprofit hasto have been given authority to negotiatea compromise.

There are several other importantreasons for being present at a mark-up.Some committee members may still beundecided, and getting a last-minuteword with them can be important. (But,again, dont rely on last-minute contacts;

seldom will they win the day.) Anotherreason for being there is that, by yourpresence, you are sending a message tolegislators that your organization is veryinterested in the outcome and will bereporting the committees action to themembers constituents.

Action on the House andSenate Floors

If your bill fails to make it out of the

House committee, it will be virtuallyimpossible to get it considered by thefull House. Because the House RulesCommittee rarely permits a vote unless ameasure has received favorable committeeaction, the committee vote in the Houseusually seals the fate of your measure.

In the Senate, leadership may agree toallow a bill to be considered by the fullSenate, even if the bill has lost incommittee, especially if the committee

vote was close. When the Senate sponsorof your legislation is successful inpersuading leadership to bring your billup for a vote in the full Senate, it may be

possible for you to win, if you have broadgrassroots support. That can happen onlyif, in the months and even years before,you have been carefully building supportfor the measure among all members ofthe Senate.

The House/Senate Conference

After legislation has been passed by theHouse and the Senate, it goes toconference. Conferees are named by thechairs of the committees that haveconsidered legislation. They are usuallycommittee members with the mostseniority or are chairs of particularsubcommittees. Because conferees areoften named a week or so before aconference, it is possible to get some

last-minute messages in from thegrassroots, if you are following the processclosely. You will need to get the list ofconferees immediately and get the wordout right away, letting your membersknow what the deadline is for gettingtheir messages to the conferees before thevote. For the same reasons that yourgroup should be represented at acommittee mark-up, it is very importantto be present at the mark-up by conferees.

Action by the President

The president either signs a bill into lawor vetoes it. If the president vetoes thebill, the veto can be overturned only by atwo-thirds vote in both houses.

Your organization will usually knowwell in advance whether the presidentsupports your legislation. If a veto is apossibility, your grassroots will have to bemobilized immediately after Congress

passes the legislation, because thepresident is required to take action on abill 10 days (not counting Sundays) after

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it is received from Congress. It takesstrong grassroots support to enactlegislation, and that support can beenormously influential in persuading anundecided president to sign.

If a bill is vetoed, both houses usuallytake action to override the veto within a

few days. It will be important for you toknow of a presidential veto within hours,if not minutes. Once again, yourgrassroots supporters should be contactedimmediately and urged to get in touchwith their senators and representatives, insupport of a veto override. Often therewill not be time for you to get an alertout to the field and letters back in fromthe grassroots, so you must be prepared totelephone, fax, and e-mail your grassroots

supporters and have them phone theirpositions to members of Congress or takeother action that is equally speedy.

Facts About Legislatorsand the Legislative Process

It is important to remember that allmembers of a legislature are not equal.For example, majority party membersmay be more helpful to you thanminority members. Majority party

members control the particular house ofCongress, and its members are chairsof the committees. The chairs haveconsiderable power over committeesdecisions. Moreover, senior membersmay also be more helpful, since theyoften have significant influence overcommittees decisions, and they are morelikely to be appointed to conferencecommittees, where key decisions aremade. Finally, some members of a

committee may be more active thanothers, for a variety of reasons, including

the impact that a committees legislativeagenda may have on legislators homedistricts.

While it is important to understandthe legislative process, the fact that it is aprocess run by people makes it alsoimportant to put yourself in legislators

shoes. (For an exceptionally livelydescription of the people, pulls, andpressures in Congress, see Resource D,by Doug Siglin.) Try to understand howyou would respond if you were in theirposition and were being contacted byyour organization. Remember thatlegislators have many votes on theirminds and demands on their time. Theycannot learn about each issue in the samedepth as you know your issues. It is

important to be patient with the legislatorwho does not seem to understand theprogram you are backing. If the legislatorcannot help you on your issue this time,give him or her the benefit of the doubt.Dont take it personally. Maybe thelegislator will be with you next time.

The federal government and manystate governments provide detailedinformation on the legislative process.Enactment of a Law(1997) by Robert B.

Dove, Parliamentarian of the U.S. Senateand How Our Laws are Made(1997)by Charles W. Johnson, HouseParliamentarian provide very usefulinformation about the legislative processin Congress, taking a bill step by stepfrom introduction through enactment. Itis important for the beginning lobbyist toknow the basics of the process, so that heor she will know which questions to ask.Books on the legislative process can help,

but it is often even more helpful to getinformation from people in the legislature.They can help you understand how theprocess works in practice, and they will

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probably feel complimented that you havecome to them for direction. For example,it is crucial to know that few steps in theprocess are likely to be critical to the fateof your legislation. The person who willhelp you the most in knowing which stepsare most important is almost always the

legislator who has taken the lead on yourbill, or that legislators staff person.

Staff in Legislatures

Most senior staff members in legislatures,and even some who are not so senior,wield enormous behind-the-scenes power.The ability of your lobbyist to develop agood working relationship with thelegislative staff person assigned to yourbill is almost as important as your

selection of the legislator who will leadyour effort. Staff people can be veryuseful to your organization. They canhelp you (1) become familiar with theother members of the committee andtheir staffs, (2) know who among themshould be targeted to support the billearly in the process, (3) know whichlegislators staffs will help and which oneswill not, (4) obtain regular updates onwhere committee members stand on your

bill, (5) know what actions would behelpful from your grassroots and when,(6) show you how to get the most out ofhearings on your measure, and (7) obtaininformation on how to get legislative-report language that strengthens your bill.They can also help you with much more.

You, of course, will be developinginformation on key members of thelegislature from other sources as well. Bycross-checking that information with a

legislative staff person who is taking thelead on your bill, you can greatly improvethe targeting of all your efforts.

For your part, there are a number ofways in which you can be helpful to yourlegislative staff person in moving yourlegislation forward. You can offer to drafta statement that his or her boss can use inconducting hearings on your bill or ingetting ready to speak on your measure

before a group. After a committee votesfavorably to move your bill out ofcommittee, you can also offer to helpdevelop draft language for the report onthe legislation. A committee reportincludes information on the committeesfindings and recommendations. Theopportunity to draft such a statementhelps you ensure that your groups viewswill be appropriately included. The keypoint is that you should be alert to the

many ways in which you can offer to helpthe legislative staff person move your bill,by offering to take on some of thenecessary writing or other staff work.

Over time, you will get a sense ofhow much the staff person will be willingto help. Because of the extraordinarynumber of hours they may spend on ameasure, staff people often developcommitment to the legislation that iseven greater than their bosses

commitment. Such commitment canhelp significantly in moving yourlegislation. Keep in mind, however, thatthe legislator has the final say and thatkeeping his or her commitment strong iscrucial. Regardless of how strongly a staffperson feels about your bill, he or shewont be able to win the day for you ifthe legislator is willing to trade your billfor another.

You will want to find a way of

recognizing staff people who have beenespecially helpful. Presenting a plaque, oroffering similar recognition, before anappropriate group is one way. But

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remember that the most important publicrecognition should always go to thelegislator.

Perhaps it goes without saying thattrust is absolutely central to building astrong relationship with staff people.Keeping commitments to staff people to

hold information in confidence is crucial,as difficult as it may be sometimes. Notonly is it right to do so, but you wont geta second chance if you slip up.

Most nonprofits that lobby dont startby learning the legislative process, norshould they. Most begin by doing whatthey already know how to do with greateffectiveness. They write letters, theytelephone, or perhaps they even visit theirlegislators, to let lawmakers know how

particular legislative proposals will affecttheir organizations services. Its not thatknowing the lobbying process isnt helpful;someone in your organization shouldknow at least a few of the basics. Itsimportant, however, not to get entangledby trying to achieve complete mastery ofthe labyrinthine legislative process beforeyou take action. Keep your eye on thetarget and on the thing that nonprofits dobest: telling your organizations story

effectively to your legislators. If some tryto convince you that you must master allthe intricacies of the legislative processbefore taking action on legislation, remindthem that Irving Berlin never stopped tolearn to read or write music.

If you are new to lobbying, rememberthat there is no one right or wrong way tolobby. There are as many ways to lobby asthere are people who do it. Remember,too, that you wont learn to lobby by

reading this book or any other. You learnto do it by doing it.

Lobbying theAdministration

Actions of the executive branch ofgovernment, such as the issuing ofregulations that spell out the intent oflegislation, can profoundly affectprograms supported by nonprofits. It is

possible for an administration at any levelof government to modify legislation sogreatly that truth is lent to the old adage,What the legislature gives throughlegislation, the administration takes awaythrough regulation.

Often, the regulations proposed byan executive agency will change theoriginal purposes of legislation so greatlythat nonprofits must fight every bit ashard to change the regulations as they did

to enact the measure in the first place.For example, the regulations proposed inlate 1986 by the IRS to implement the1976 lobby law were so restrictive andambiguous that they threatened to endlobbying by most nonprofits. Only after agrueling four-month battle, in whichnonprofits lobbied administration officialsand enlisted the support of Congress, didthe IRS agree to consider drafting newregulations. Superb lobbying regulations

governing the 1976 law were ultimatelyissued by the IRS in 1990.

Nonprofits may lobby an administra-tion for a variety of reasons: seekingchanges in regulations, encouraging anadministration to propose legislation orappropriations, or urging an administra-tion to support a measure beingconsidered by a legislature. Regardless ofthe reasons, the lobbying techniques,including the involvement of legislative

volunteer networks, are very similar tothose used in lobbying a legislature, andthey are neither difficult nor complex.

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Anyone who can write a letter or make atelephone call can effectively lobby anadministration for a policy change,through contacting the administrationdirectly or through contacting members ofthe legislature and urging them to ask theadministration to support the measure.

Staff people in the executive branchare not always responsive to lobbying bynonprofits. For example, the staffresponsible for drafting IRS regulationsand other policies are often civil servicepersonnel, not political appointees.Therefore, they are not very vulnerableto pressures from the grassroots. Often,however, staff members are open toreason when they are presented witharguments about how proposed

regulations will negatively affect programssupported by the nonprofits. If thepeople in an executive agency who areultimately responsible for regulations arenot willing to make changes, thennonprofits have to find other avenuesto get the administration to makemodifications.

Enlisting the Help of the Legislature

Success in changing proposed regulations

usually requires your lobbying theexecutive (president, governor, mayor)and/or the heads of executivedepartments or agencies who areappointedby the chief executive andhave reason to be more responsive tograssroots pressures, such as those fromlegislative networks. At the federal level,effective lobbying of the administrationalmost always involves enlisting the helpof members of Congress.

Members of Congress resent havingtheir legislation modified by regulations

in ways that they or their constituentsthink are not consistent with originallegislative intent. Enlisting the support ofthe chair and other members of theappropriate legislative committee can becritically important in mobilizing supportfor modifying the regulations. At the

same time, staff people in the executiveagency that has drafted the regulationsare interested in maintaining goodrelationships with the chair and othermembers of the committee responsiblefor enacting the legislation. After all,committee members usually have thepower to affect the well-beingoftenincluding the appropriationsof theagency that developed the regulations.Enlisting large numbers of other

legislators can also help greatly inmoving the administration to modify ordrop proposed regulations. In any case,the point is that legislators have muchmore power than nonprofits do toinfluence an administration. By all means,enlist them in your efforts. In the 1987battle with the IRS over the regulationsgoverning lobbying by nonprofits, it wasfinally the involvement of SenatorsMoynihan (D-NY), Packwood (R-OR),

DeConcini (D-AZ), and DAmato(R-NY) and of CongressmenRostenkowski (D-IL), Rangel (D-NY),and Vander Jagt (R-MN)all keymembers of committees that havejurisdiction over the IRS or authority forits appropriationsthat played thepivotal role in getting the agency toreconsider its regulations.

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If you have enlisted the support of akey legislator to help you get anadministration to change proposedregulations, make a special effort todevelop a good working relationship withthe legislators congressional staff person.Staff people know that nonprofits can

help mobilize constituents to supporttheir bosses efforts. They play a pivotal,behind-the-scenes role in providing up-to-the minute information, circulatingDear Colleague letters, assisting withhearings, and making their bossesavailable to meet with nonprofits as anencouragement to lobbying efforts. Keepin mind that senior staff people almostalways know what actions by members ofCongress will have the greatest impact on

the administration. Look to them forsuggestions regarding strategy.

15

Getting the Presss Support

Getting press support for your position,and press criticism of the governmentsposition, can also have an enormousimpact. News stories, editorials, op-edpieces, letters to the editor in support ofyour position on regulations or otheradministrative initiativesall of thesewill help get the attention of anyadministration. Simply getting presscoverage will not win your issue. Butpress coverage, along with grassrootslobbying, lobbying of the administrationby influential members of your nonprofit,and most important, the support oflegislators, will often generate the strengthyou need for the change you seek.


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Unlike many other lobbyinggroups, a nonprofitorganizations power does not

come from contributions to a legislatorscampaign (thats prohibited). It comesfrom well-informed members1 whorecognize the value of encouraginglegislators to support the nonprofitslegislative issues. While they cannotcontribute dollars to a legislator,

nonprofits are nevertheless important tohim or her because they constitute animportant force in the community byvirtue of the quality and the number ofthe members, as well as the importanceof the groups mission. Legislators ar eparticularly sensitive to groups from theirhome districts, since such groups arecomposed of the legislator s constituents,and their members go to the polls.The key question is how you can

communicate with your organizationsmembers so that they will contact theirlegislators on behalf of the groupsconcerns.

Many nonprofits rely completely onwritten communications to move theirmembers to action. They fail to recognizethat if written communications werefollowed up with telephone calls, theorganization would greatly multiply thenumber of contacts its members make

with legislators. Most of us find it all tooeasy to put aside written communicationsthat request us to take action, especially ifthe action involves writing a letter orcalling a legislator. Our intentions aregood; we plan to do it in a day or two,but somehow that day never comes. We

have to give time and thought to thecommunication, and there are otherpressing demands on our time. If we arecalled, howeverif there is a person onthe other end of the line urging us to acton the requestwe are much more likelyto do it.

Telephone follow-up is time-consuming and can be costly, but theincreased contacts repay the investment oftime and money. Moreover, those who

phone always receive valuable informationfrom the key volunteers and otherorganization representatives to whomthey are speaking, through the give-and-take of a conversation. Furthermore,those who make the calls almost alwaysfind the process itself energizing, giventhe camaraderie that develops betweenthe callers and those who are being askedto make the contacts.

Some organizations cut the costs of

telephoning by setting up a telephonetree, whereby one person calls five people,and each of those five calls five more, andso on. Regardless of how you do it, it iscritically important that you make calls tourge response to your action alerts. Youmay be inclined to mail your alert tomembers and others, hoping that will beenough to generate the action you want.Resist that impulse. Telephoning is hardwork, but it often makes the difference

between success and failure.In any communication with your

members, accuracy counts. If a member ofyour organization uses inaccurate

16

1 The term members principally refers to individuals whohave membership in a nonprofit but it may also includeother individuals or organizations affiliated with thenonprofit.

Effective Communications:The Key to MobilizingYour Lobbying Strength

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information that he/she received fromyou when he/she communicates with alegislator, everyone loses. The legislatorloses because accuracy is criticallyimportant to all that he or she does. Yourgroups member loses credibility with thelegislator, and you lose credibility with

your member. If you inadvertently sendinaccurate information to your members,always correct it as quickly as possible,painful as that may be.

It is difficult but important to tryto keep your legislative alert (yourexplanation of the issue and the actionneeded) to one sheet, front and back.If you must send more information,attach supplemental briefing materialsand provide an executive summary of the

materials. Nothing dampens a contactpersons enthusiasm more quickly thanreceiving a legislative alert that calls forquick action but obliges the recipient towade through four or five pages to get thenecessary information. Be certain thatyour first paragraph tells the reader whatthe issue is and what action is needed,and clearly label the main messages in thealert. You will have to work at it, but yourisk losing the reader if he or she doesnt

get the main message first.Dont use legislative jargon in your

alert. It may take a few more words toconvey what a mark-up is, but why usethe term if youre not absolutely certainthat all your readers know that a mark-upis a committee making its final changesin legislation?

Keep your alert self-contained, sothat the reader doesnt have to refer to anearlier alert (they have probably discarded

it). Dont make assumptions about howmuch your readers know from your past

communications with them. In the heatof a key legislative fight, you are livingwith the issue 24 hours a day, but theyare not. They cannot make an intelligentcontact if your alert does not provideadequate background information, soprovide the basic details even though it

may be redundant for some readers.Just to be doubly certain that your

alert is clear, ask several others in youroffice, who are not as close to the issue asyou are, to read it for clarity. If you arefortunate enough to have volunteers,they can be particularly helpful, becausethey probably will be relatively new tothe subject and therefore can read thealert for clarity from an outsiders pointof view.

Be certain that your communicationsare mailed soon enough for your membersto contact their legislators. Nothing makesyour organization look worse (to saynothing of hurting your cause) thanmailing your alert too late for action. It isimportant to know how quickly mailusually reaches your members. If you haveany doubt about the time necessary toreach people by mail, use the telephone,or send faxes or e-mail to get your

message to your members.

Newer CommunicationsTechnologies forMobilizing Support

The past decade has brought huge changesin communications technologies that holdgreat potential for nonprofits advocacy.Electronic mail, websites, faxes, andtelephone routing systems allowing calls tomembers of Congress have come into

their own in the past ten years, somewithin the past two, and provide aneffective way for nonprofits to quicklymobilize their members for action on

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legislation. Each has strengths andlimitations: e-mail is useful for helping toorganize a lobbying campaign but maynot be as useful in communicating withlegislators; websites may be useful formaking important information availablebut require an individual to take time to

search, find, and have the informationprinted; telephone calls are very valuablein communicating with legislators becauseof the personal touch but are oftendifficult to mobilize in large numbers.

There are two ways in which newertechnologies can be useful tools tononprofits. They can be used to helporganize lobbying campaigns or toeducate the public about issues. They canalso be used to directly communicate

with or lobby legislators. On this lastpoint, its important to note that the finalword is not yet in on the technologiesvalue as a tool for direct communicationswith legislators. New survey data (OMBWatch, June 1998) seems to show that faxis increasingly accepted as a means forcommunicating with Congress; six yearsago it was not perceived as such (Burson-Marsteller, 1992). Similarly, e-mail todayis not rated very highly as a useful form

of communication by congressionaloffices, but it is being used increasinglyand may become more accepted. Withoutdoubt the best forms of communicationremain letters (including faxed letters),calls, and personal visits.

The value of the new technologies incommunicating with an organizationsmembers has been demonstratedrepeatedly in numerous successfuladvocacy efforts, such as recent efforts to

stop the Istook initiatives in Congress tocurtail nonprofit lobbying, to ban landmines, and to set aside 1.7 million acres offederal land in Utah as a national

monument. Skilled use of newtechnologies holds real promise fornonprofits, for several reasons. First, itprovides a quick and inexpensive means ofmobilizing a nonprofits members andother groups interested in an issue. Oftenlegislative issues move at a very fast pace;

e-mail allows a nonprofit to communicatewith its members to keep them up-to-the-minute and engaged in the policy debatein a manner that never before existed.Second, it promises to level the playingfield a bit between nonprofits and thosegroups that are permitted to contributefinancially to candidates for public office.While nonprofits cant contribute tocandidates campaigns or to parties, theydo have an important advantage over for-

profits. Nonprofits usually have largecadres of people at the grassrootsinterested in their causes. The newtechnologies now make it possible to reachthose people almost instantaneously, atrelatively modest cost, to urge them tocontact legislators. Third, it creates newways of educating members and thepublic about issues without significantcost. Instead of the expense (and time) formailings, nonprofits that have websites

can now make information availablethrough their sites, allowing theirmembers and the public to learn about anissueand possibly get more involved.

New technologies can greatlystrengthen nonprofits lobbying, but moretraditional communications such aspersonal letters, telephone calls, and visitswith legislators remain the mostimportant means, by far, of getting yourmessage across to legislators. It is

important, however, for staff ofnonprofits to develop at least basic skills

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in receiving and sending information viathe new technologies. Following is a briefsummary of these technologies and hownonprofits are putting them to use.

E-mail

E-mail has an enormous advantage over

other means of communication because itcreates a new type of interactivity amongnonprofits and members of a nonprofit.With e-mailand listservers, whichare e-mail discussion groupspeople donot need to get together or arrange aconference call at the same time inorder to discuss issues. Moreover, thecommunications can be sent and receivednearly instantaneously and the recipientmay in-turn e-mail the information to

others whom he or she knows areinterested in the issueand each of thosemight send it to others, resulting in rapidand huge cumulative outreach and impact.

While e-mail holds great promise asa means of organizing a nonprofitsgrassroots, its important to know thatmembers of Congress have not yet fullyincorporated ways to respond to e-mailthat they receive despite the fact thatthese offices are receiving a lot of e-mail

(see Chapter 4).

Websites

The World-Wide Web, like e-mail,involves using the Internet. Like e-mail,the Web allows nonprofits to shareinformation worldwide at low cost.Unlike e-mail, which a member of anonprofit can automatically receive whenhe or she opens their e-mail software, theWeb requires the individual to go visit

or research for information. In otherwords, the Web requires the person toactively search for things, making it lessuseful in some lobbying campaigns where

information must be distributed veryquickly. On the other hand, the Webprovides access to detailed informationthat allows a one stop location forpeople to find out what is happening on aparticular issue. In the past, the Webrequired significant and costly computer

resources, with the result that fewnonprofits or their members had access.However, with computer costs droppingdramatically, the Web has become morewidely available.

A website can be used in multipleways. For example, a nonprofit can postlegislative updates or analyses of issues.These materials are available to anyonevisiting the website. Combined withwidely accessible search engines, such as

Yahoo and Alta Vista, your website willbe available to a very wide audience. Aperson searching for a specific issuethrough a search engine may then link toyour website. Thus, the Web becomes avast library for people around the world.

The website can also be used to sende-mail or faxes directly to legislativeoffices. A nonprofit can have an e-maillink to its legislator (if the office has e-mail) directly from the website. For

statewide or national nonprofits, therecan be e-mail links to state delegations orto everyone in Congress who has e-mail.In addition to e-mail links, the websitecan provide a fax link to the legislativeoffice. This might be useful because e-mail still is not as widely used as faxes.

Because websites are passive ratherthan active tools for informationdissemination, it is important to payattention to marketing your website.

Good marketing is very importantbecause there are millions of websites andtheir growth has been exponential. Some

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groups are using e-mail to market theirwebsite. One nonprofit dramaticallyincreased its outreach via the Web byadvertising its website in selectedmagazines, periodicals, and other placesnationwide to get the attention of thoseinterested in their cause. Website visitors

were urged to send their names andaddresses to that organizations actionupdate mailing list, which enabled thegroup to compile e-mail addresses of30,000 supporters. The organizations

Washington coordinator can now, at thetouch of a key, ask everyone on the list towrite or call their legislators.

Websites permit groups with modestbudgets to alert their members withminimal charge through the Internet. In

short, a website can provide all that isneeded for a visitor to a site to send apersonalized e-mail letter to a legislator.Remember, however, that some membersof Congress do not have e-mail, and thosethat do generally rank it below othermeans of communication as a tool to geta message across.

Faxes

Many organizations send faxes to get

their messages on legislation out quicklyto their members when fast action isrequired. More nonprofits have faxmachines than e-mail, so faxes, includingbroadcast faxes, are used more extensivelythan e-mail for legislative alerts.Nonprofits sometimes find that some oftheir members can receive only faxes,while others are limited to receiving onlye-mail. In that situation, the sendingnonprofit usually develops the capacity to

send both e-mail and faxes.Broadcast faxes permit an

organization to send a fax quickly toliterally hundreds of individuals either

through the nonprofits office or througha commercial faxing company. Anonprofit may, for example, key 50numbers into their own fax machine andhave the capacity to broadcast faxregularly to all 50 by putting the materialto be faxed through the fax machine just

one time. Nonprofits usually turn tocommercial firms for faxes to largernumbers of recipients. A fax may be sentto literally thousands of recipients byelectronically sending a fax list to acommercial fax company. That companycan rapidly disseminate your fax atreasonable rates.

The quality of fax machines hasimproved substantially, so eveninformation that has been refaxed several

times usually is still legible. But neitherfaxed nor e-mailed material comes closeto matching materials sent by postal mailin terms of legibility, attractiveness, andeffectiveness. If postal mail will get yourmessage out in sufficient time for therecipient to take action, its still thepreferred way of sending alerts. As withe-mail, Congressional offices weresomewhat slow to welcome faxes but afaxed letter is acceptable.

Telephone Routing Systems

While many nonprofits are familiar withthe availability of toll free telephonenumbers, most do not know about howto link such services with routing calls tolegislative offices. Using a toll freetelephone number, a nonprofit canproduce a barrage of calls to legislators ifthe number is advertised widely tointerested groups. Typically, the caller to

the toll free number receives a briefmessage on the issue and then is providedaccess to his or her legislator through

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various automated means. Theseautomated systems can operate byallowing the caller to be connecteddirectly to the legislators office or bysending a form fax letter. The cost toarrange for these telephone routingsystems is approximately $500 and the

charge per minute might range from35 to 50 (1998 estimated costs).

The nonprofit may arrange atelephone routing system where theorganization pays for the call, or theindividual making the call may bebilled. Since personal telephone callsare considered a powerful way ofcommunicating with legislators, it makessense to encourage the use of a toll freetelephone routing system. Moreover, the

nonprofit could advertise the availabilityof the telephone routing system throughe-mail and website.

Zip Code Matching

New software technology allows anorganization to automatically matchindividuals or groups with their legislatorsat the click of a button. This is done bymatching the zip code with a legislativedistrict. Some programs require nine-digit

zip codes to ensure accuracy, while otherprograms can insert the four-digit zipcode extension through a verification ofthe address.

Zip code matching permits you toquickly contact all of your contacts inlegislative districts of key members of thelegislature whose votes are needed tosupport a legislative initiative. The cost ofeach match between a legislator and aperson in the legislative district varies from

about 15 to 25 (1998 estimate), with aminimum total expenditure of $950.

Zip code matching can also be usedto allow your members to contact thecorrect legislator on an issue. (Sometimesmembers are not certain of the names oftheir legislators.) This zip code matchingsoftware can be employed through yourwebsite or through your telephone

routing system discussed above.

Whats the BestTechnology to Use?

There will always be debate about thevalue of newer technologies in lobbyingcampaigns. Although the personal formof communication is always the best, thebottom line is that a successful lobbycampaign today needs to incorporatemultiple approaches to educating and

mobilizing members and communicatingwith legislators.

Feedback and Records

Encourage your members always to sendyou copies of any correspondence thatthey have received from legislators.Nonprofits members are sometimesslow to provide their information, butencourage them to do so. All replies,even those that are noncommital, tell you

something about the legislators position.If you are seeking cosponsors for

your legislation, regularly send yourmembers a list of all legislators andindicate who has already signed on. Yourmembers will check the list to see if theirlegislators are cosponsors and will knowwhether they need to get in touch withthem. Regular updates also keep yourmembers involved by showing them theresults of their efforts.

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Tallies of Support

It is very important to keep a confidentialsupport tally that gives your judgmentsregarding legislators positions. This listcould be coded as follows:

S = supportsLTS = leaning toward support

U = undecidedLAS = leaning against supportA = against

It is also important to remember thatthese judgments are often subjective,since they are pieced together frominformation that may have a variety ofsources. Such a list should not be sent outto your members. A person who sees thather legislator is leaning against support of

your measure may write to the legislatorand ask why he or she is not supportingit, even though the leaning againstdesignation is simply a judgment thatyou made, and it may not be altogetheraccurate. The legislator probably willbe unhappy, to say the least, aboutreceiving a communication that doesnot accurately reflect his or her position.This misunderstanding may damage therelationship between your member and

the legislator, and between your memberand you. Even though such a list must betreated with caution, it can still be veryimportant to your groups leaders and tothe legislator who is leading the effort onyour measure. The legislator will needregular updates of your assessment ofsupport for the measure. On the basis ofthe tally, you can selectively urge yourmembers to make special contacts withlegislators who are not supportive, takingcare to communicate those legislatorspositions in such a way that yourvolunteers can act without jeopardizingrelationships.

Frequency of Alerts

Legislative alerts should be sent out asoften as necessary, which may mean threetimes in one month and not at all for thenext several months. Some nonprofitssend out government relations updates atdesignated times each month, even if

there is little to report. There are thosewho argue that sending a governmentrelations update on a regular scheduledevelops a readership, but that is notlikely to happen if you are stretching tofill up the space. You will soon lose yourreaders interest and their possiblesupportive actions unless you arereporting something worthy of their time.

Staying with the Process

Major legislative changes often take manyyears to achieve, and it is sometimesdifficult to keep members motivated forthat long. It is important to be candidfrom the start about the time that may berequired. You should also emphasize thatpersistence ranks close to the top, if it isnot at the top, of any list of attributesessential to a successful legislative effort.Theres no magic to success, justperseverance and hard work.

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There have been a number ofstudies on which communica-tions help most in influencing a

legislators point of vie w, but keep inmind that there is more than one way tomake your communication count. Themost effective method will be the onethat, over time, works best for yourgroup. Personal visits, thoughtful lettersfrom constituents, site visits (where alegislator sees first-hand the needs your

group is trying to meet), and telephonecalls from constituents whom thelegislator respectsall of these can behighly effective. On balance, a personalvisit from an influential constituent isclearly better than a letter or a phone callfrom the same constituent, and one sitevisit would probably be better than tenpersonal visits or one-hundred letters orphone calls. You will develop your ownsense of what works best. Your own

experience will be a far better guidethan any study, although studies canprovide some useful general direction foryour work.

A comprehensive study byBurson-Marsteller (1992) providesimportant information about whichsources of communications congressionalstaff rated as most effective. Staff peoplesviews are important because of theenormous influence that staffers exert

on the members of Congress for whomthey work. There were several majorfindings in the study and they are

remarkably similar to earlier studies. First,spontaneous, individually composedletters from constituents were seen as themost effective way of communicatingwith congressional decision makers. Theseletters received more attention than anyother form of written communication.

Office visits by constituents rank a veryclose second, followed by articles in stateand congressional district newspapers andtelephone calls from opinion leaders inthe state and congressional district.(For a complete listing of the attentioncongressional staffs give to selectedcommunications and the comparativefrequency of such communications seeTable 1, p. 25)

The Burson-Marsteller report

highlights the following points:! Congressional offices pay more

attention to personalcommunications from constituentsthan any other source. In fac

Non Profit Lobbying Guide

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