What Nonprofits Need to Know About Nominations
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
After the Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit the unique opportunities 501(c)(3) public charities have to advocate in favor of or against specific nominations made by the Executive Branch that require confirmation from a legislative body. On this episode, we explore the nomination process for key positions and give you some best practices on how to ensure your organization can effectively (and legally) advocate for specific nominees. Shownotes: · Nomination advocacy often qualifies as lobbying (Internal...
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State of Advocacy: Legislative Update
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
On today’s episode, we are breaking down the 2026 state legislative season and how the landscape affecting nonprofit advocacy is shifting across the country. We are recording this in mid-June, and while most states have wrapped up for the year, not all have, so you are going to want to look at your state to get a sense of what’s enacted, what’s moving, and what’s dead. What we’re seeing this year is not just incremental change, but a rapid expansion of state-level regulation over campaign finance, ballot measures, voter access, and increasingly, what we are calling foreign influence...
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How Philanthropy is Meeting the Moment
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
This week, we are diving into the world of philanthropy. We are thrilled to be joined by Matthew L. Evans from the United Philanthropy Forum who will help us understand how philanthropy is evolving to meet this moment and what challenges and opportunities we are seeing for funders and philanthropy infrastructure organizations. Guests for this episode Brittany Hacker Leonard Tim Mooney Matthew L. Evans Shownotes Matthew L. Evans is the United Philanthropy Forum’s VP of Advocacy and External Relations....
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Individual Activity in Election Season
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
Employees and volunteers of public charities often participate in the political and democratic process in ways that connect to their organization’s mission. While a 501(c)(3) cannot engage in partisan activity, individuals don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they are staff, board members, or volunteers of a public charity. In our last episode, we talked about candidate appearances at charitable events. But what if the call is coming from inside the house? In this episode, we’ll share some practical tips and best practices to help you engage in electoral work as an individual...
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Commenting on Candidates
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
When nonprofits speak out on issues in the public square, the line between education and electioneering can get blurry – especially during election season. On this episode of Rules of the Game, we break down what the law allows when organizations comment on statements made by candidates and campaigns, and how those rules shift when addressing the actions of incumbents who may also be on the ballot. From issue advocacy to the risk of impermissible political intervention, we walk through practical scenarios and key guardrails to help your nonprofit stay compliant while engaging in advocacy to...
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Candidate Appearances
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
Primaries are taking place or may have already occurred where you are. More elections will take place from now until November so we thought it’s a good time to talk about candidate appearances. We’ll explain how (c)(3)s can stay nonpartisan while helping to educate voters and candidates by hosting candidates. (c)(4)s, you can of course do everything (c)(3)s can do and much more! Attorneys for this episode Quyen Tu Victor Rivera Brittany Hacker Leonard Shownotes Why is this important? C3s are a trusted source of...
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Ballot Measure Advocacy
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
With direct democracy becoming more important than ever in this political climate, we thought it was a good time to revisit ballot measures. From local park bonds to important state constitutional amendments, ballot measures have become important tools for policymaking, and nonprofits often play a huge role in supporting and opposing them. On this episode we do a deep dive on the details and how you can get involved. Attorneys for this episode Susan Finkle Sourlis Tim Mooney Natalie Ossenfort Shownotes What Are Ballot Measures, and Why...
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Ask Us Anything
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
On this episode of Rules of the Game, we dive into some of the most common – and pressing – questions we hear on our free nonprofit advocacy technical assistance hotline. From whether foundation funding can support voter registration efforts, to what nonprofits should know when attending rallies and advocating around local law enforcement cooperation with ICE, we break down the rules and offer practical guidance you can use to enhance your organization’s advocacy and community participation in elections and other public policy activities. We’ll discuss real world...
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Legislative Update
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
Legislative season is underway, and we’re seeing a wave of proposals that could significantly reshape the operating environment for nonprofits and advocacy organizations. We’re tracking over 1,000 bills across the country, and while some of them do positive things, like make improvements to our electoral system or increase voter turnout, unfortunately, most of these measures are taking aim at impactful nonprofit advocacy. These proposals collectively reflect an erosion of the civic space in the nonprofit ecosystem. We’re here to break down some of the key trends and help you stay...
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Litigation Update
Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast
On this edition, we open up the docket and get an update on the variety of court cases that impact tax-exempt organizations and their ability to advocate on the issues they care about. And to help with that, we’re joined once again by friend of the pod Emma Olson Sharkey from Elias Law Group to help demystify what’s happening in the courts and how it might impact you and your work. Attorneys for this episode Brittany Hacker Leonard Tim Mooney Emma Olson Sharkey – Elias Law Group Shownotes 501(c)(4) political activity Freedom Path, Inc. v. IRS (D.D.C.) Memorial Hermann Accountable...
info_outlineOn this episode, we revisit a very specific type of lobbying that doesn’t necessarily seem like lobbying in the first place. Ballot measures can range from local bonds to state constitutional amendments, and everything in between. What can nonprofits do to support or oppose them, and how do they comply with state and federal law?
Our attorneys for this episode
- Tim Mooney
- Natalie Ossenfort
- Quyen Tu
What are Ballot Measures?
- Called different things in different states and localities
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- Bond
- Constitutional Amendments
- Referenda
- Ballot questions / initiatives
- Propositions
- Any policy matter put to a vote of the general public
- There are no federal ballot measures, but federal law has one major thing to say aboutmeasures for 501(c)(3)s
- State and sometimes local laws cover campaign finance and reporting requirements
Can nonprofits take a stance?
- No. End of episode. (just kidding!)
- Most can. All 501(c)s that aren’t charities or foundations can (generally) do an unlimited amount of ballot measure advocacy, but must follow state and local laws for reporting their work
- Public charities can take a stance, but ballot measures are lobbying (which is why this episode is in the lobbying series!). From there, they also have to follow state and local laws for reporting their work
- Private foundations cannot take a stance on ballot measures (again...lobbying) without being hit with a big excise tax
Wait, lobbying? Tell me more.
- Boil it down? Voters are a giant legislative body
- Direct lobbying, not grassroots – and that’s good because charities can do more direct lobbying
- Doesn’t violate the prohibition on electioneering to support or oppose measures because they are not related to candidates
- Be careful to make sure your org’s advocacy isn’t seen as/tied to a candidate’s position on theballot measures
- Clock starts ticking when petitions go out to qualify for the ballot or (probably) when you’re lobbying legislative bodies when they are determining whether to refer an item to the voters
- Count all prep work, staff time, communications costs, etc.
- You non-c3s? Tax law doesn’t restrict lobbying, and this counts toward primary purpose activity... so load up on your GOTV and voter reg work on ballot measures and (strategy time!) it can offset candidate work you do.
State laws...
Every state is different, starting with the fact some states don’t have ballot measures at all. Even states without statewide ballot measures like NY have local bond measures though.
Any state or locality with ballot measures has some kind of registration and reporting laws
We have state law resources for your state! Examples:
Texas
Corporations (including nonprofits) can support or oppose ballot measures in Texas.
- Texas Election Code defines a political committee as two or more persons acting in concert with a principal purpose of accepting political contributions or making political expenditures. Since the definition of “persons” includes nonprofit corporations and expenditures and contributionsinclude those made in connection with a measure, it is possible for nonprofits to trigger PAC registration and reporting in Texas even if they don’t do any candidate-related work.
- TRANSLATION: if a group of nonprofits comes together to raise funds for the support or opposition of a measure, they may need to register and report as a PAC.
- It is also possible that if a nonprofit acts on its own to impact a ballot measure, it could trigger direct campaign expenditure (aka independent expenditure) reporting even if it doesn’t coordinate its work with other organizations or individuals. DCE reporting, as it’s sometimes referred to, kicks in when more than $100 is spent to support or oppose a measure.
- Of course, there are other scenarios as well that might not require state-level reporting in the ballot measure context in Texas (e.g. nonprofit contributions to a ballot measure only PAC), so feel free to reach out to our TX team if you have any questions about when and what you have to report when you engage in ballot measure advocacy.
Oregon
- Trivia: Oregon is one of the first states to adopt ballot measures... started them in 1902 (just behind SD and UT)
- Five forms: state statutes (legislature or citizen referred), constitutional amendments (legislature or citizen referred), and veto referenda.
- If your nonprofit’s purpose is to support/oppose a ballot measures you have to register as a political committee
- No contribution limits (those are unconstitutional per SCOTUS)
- Real time online reporting (ORESTAR!!!!)
- 3 reporting periods
- Contributions over $100 - the name/address of the donor disclosed
California
- These rules are about transparency and tracking money in CA elections.
- Most important: if you engage in certain fundraising activities or spending, you could become aballot measure committee and not even know it. That means your nonprofit would have filing and reporting obligations.
- There just isn’t enough time to do justice to the CA BM rules on this show so if you’re interestedin a whole show, please shoot us an email
- Ballot measures are treated as campaign activity
- Rules are designed so that when people or organizations accept or spend money for ballot measures, it gets reported by someone.
- When there is advocacy for a ballot measure, there will be a main ballot measure committee.Must report contributions of $100+, whether financial or in-kind, and expenditures. This usually works best as a separate entity from a 501(c)(3).
- Even if you are not the main ballot measure committee, there are ways NPs could trigger reporting with the FPPC
- receiving or spending money on ballot measure advocacy
- receive $2k+ in calendar year earmarked for ballot measures, you become a recipient committee. Recipient committees have to report their donors.
- Another way to become a recipient committee is to spend at least $50k in non-earmarked donated funds. At these higher levels of spending it gets more detailed so please check out our resources.
- Major Donor Committee: give $10k+ in calendar year to a recipient committee (staff time counts) but does not receive $ earmarked for ballot measures
- Independent Expenditure Committee: spends $1k+ in a calendar year on communications that expressly advocates for/against ballot measures and not made in coordination with a ballot measure committee
- Non reportable activities:
- 10% or less of staff time
- Paid staff time counts as an expenditure, or if it’s coordinated with a ballot measure committee, a contribution. If you have staff spending more than 10% of their time in any calendar month on ballot measures, you need to consider that expenditure towards these thresholds.
- Newsletter
- Member communications
- Contracted services to the ballot measure committee
- Certain limited fundraising expenses
- Raising money for the ballot measure committee where the contributions go directly to theballot measure committee (funds do not pass through the org)
- You can ask people to donate to the main ballot measure committee and only your fundraising costs would count as a contribution toward these thresholds, some fundraising costs are even exempt from reporting.
Final thoughts?
- Often critically important advocacy
- Private foundations! You can and should support this work, even though you cannot directly advocate or fund it. How?
-
- general support grants
- specific project grants for non-lobbying portions of the work
- educate the public about the ballot measure process
- communications that qualify as nonpartisan analysis
- communications that are neutral urging voters to study the issue
Resources