Charities Say They Don’t View Advocacy as Political

Nearly nine in 10 charities advocate for changes in public policy, but fewer than half of those surveyed say they make overt efforts to influence lawmakers, according to a study of over 1,700 nonprofit groups across the United States.

The two-year study was designed to find out why charities become involved in public-policy matters, and to identify factors that discourage them from lobbying and other such activities.

Researchers say they were surprised by the high percentage of charities — 86 percent — that reported participating in policy debates. Those organizations said they were involved in at least one of nine activities the survey’s authors highlighted, including the lobbying of citizens, testifying for or against legislation, and socializing with lawmakers.

Although a large number of organizations said they were engaged in policy work, charity board members and paid executives who took part in the study’s discussion groups played down their involvement, said Gary D. Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, in Washington, a government watchdog group that helped carry out the study. “We were surprised by the numbers of groups that said lobbying was central to their mission but don’t actually do it,” Mr. Bass said.

The discrepancy might depend upon the terms charities use to describe their efforts on policy, he said.

For example, 29 percent of those surveyed said they never lobby, while 15 percent said they never perform advocacy work for their causes. In all, 46 percent of charities surveyed said they make no effort to influence the laws made by local, state, or national governments, even though they also identified themselves as among those that participate at some level in policy discussions.

“That tells us that there’s a need for both nonprofit groups and researchers to use consistent language when discussing policy participation,” said Mr. Bass.

The study investigated nonprofit leaders’ misunderstanding of the law and how such misreadings of statutes can deter groups from becoming involved in advocacy work and other forms of participation.

Although 94 percent of those surveyed correctly said that they could not pay for their lobbying efforts with federal funds, half of the charities surveyed incorrectly thought that they could not lobby if any part of their budget came from the federal government, Mr. Bass said.

Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, in Washington, a group that encourages nonprofit involvement in policy matters, and Tufts University, in Medford, Mass., also helped compile the study, which was paid for with $400,000 in grants.

The study was based on responses from a random sample of groups that filed Form 990 informational tax returns with the IRS in fiscal 1998. Hospitals, private foundations, religious groups, and colleges and universities were excluded from the study.

A full report on the study — Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy Project — can be found on the OMB Watch Web site, or it can be ordered from OMB Watch, 1742 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. The cost is $5 per copy.