Advocacy Tips: Four Nonprofit Lobbying Campaigns That Worked

Nonprofits rallied in the Illinois State Capitol as part of a campaign that persuaded lawmakers to pass temporary tax increases to help pay for social services. Nonprofits rallied in the Illinois State Capitol as part of a campaign that persuaded lawmakers to pass temporary tax increases to help pay for social services.

March 4, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute

Thank Supportive Politicians

Patricia Hayden, a YWCA executive and co-chair of Seattle’s Human Services Coalition, says politicians should understand that helping nonprofits can pay off at the ballot box. “Each and every one of us votes,” she says.

Develop an Agenda

The underlying message of priorities for politicians, says Ron Cretaro, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits, should be: “Nonprofits are businesses and we want to be treated as businesses.”

Take a United position

Nonprofits need to rally around an achievable goal, even if it is imperfect. John Bouman, who led an Illinois coalition to seek tax increases, told colleagues to focus on getting votes, not shaping legislation to meet their exact views.

Enlist Both Parties

Don Mathis, president of the Community Action Partnership, says a winning strategy against a proposed budget cut was getting “people of every political persuasion” to let lawmakers know how poverty programs in their communities would be harmed.