New Effort Under Way to Spur Political Activism Among Charity Workers

A new organization began operations this month with a novel goal: to get nonprofit advocates to plunge into partisan politics and support candidates who have solid plans to strengthen nonprofits in their communities.

CForward—the brainchild of Robert Egger, president of the D.C. Central Kitchen anti-hunger charity—plans to endorse candidates and funnel money to them through a political-action committee.

The group stands out in a field that has often been gun-shy about partisan politics, especially when advocating for the nonprofit world as a whole.

But Mr. Egger says it’s time for the tens of millions of people who work and volunteer at nonprofits to become a political force, especially as policy makers try to dig the country out of its economic hole.

“CForward is building on the unifying principle that our shared role in the economy demands recognition and inclusion in any plan for economic recovery,” he says.

Local Focus

For now, CForward is focusing on local elections, not the presidential campaign. It is asking supporters to identify candidates for governor or mayor who agree that if elected, they would appoint someone in their administrations to work directly with nonprofits. Such appointees might, for example, conduct economic analyses, improve working relations between nonprofits and government agencies, or promote loan programs that could help charities or their constituents start businesses for a reliable source of income.

CForward has been incorporated as an advocacy group under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code (which inspired the group’s name). That legal status allows the organization to support candidates as long as it does not make that its primary activity.

Several nonprofit advocates say they welcome the new approach.

“People who work for nonprofits have a tendency to direct all their interest and passion into their issues, and to neglect supporting the civil-society space that makes their work possible,” says Kay Guinane, a lawyer in Washington who specializes in nonprofit free-speech rights.

Apart from any contributions it may make to candidates, she says CForward could help the “public discourse” by making politicians aware of the nonprofit world’s significance at the very time they are seeking votes.

However, the group could face some administrative challenges, Ms. Guinane says. For example, every state has its own campaign-finance rules and reporting rules. She also wonders what the organization would do if a candidate was willing to sponsor legislation that helped nonprofits, but at the same time had other positions that were “harmful to the mission of many groups.”

Growing Interest

CForward is already starting to generate some local interest.

Tom Tresser, a teacher and consultant in Chicago who has started or led several nonprofit groups, says he is trying to get people interested in establishing an Illinois chapter of CForward.

Mr. Tresser says the nonprofit world does not need more reports about social problems or the impact of government budget cuts. “We know that stuff—we just don’t have any power to do anything about it,” he says.

Larry Ottinger, president of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, a group that encourages charities to advocate for causes, also praises the effort. But he says he is concerned that Mr. Egger is not working with nonprofit associations like Independent Sector or the National Council of Nonprofits that could mobilize support for its goals.

“It’s an innovative idea,” he said. “I hope it’s done collaboratively with others in the sector in a responsible way because it could add value—but if poorly done could also cause damage. ”Mr. Egger says he welcomes support from associations, but has decided to focus more on recruiting individuals than on working with groups that are designated charitable organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Such groups may not endorse or oppose political candidates and face legal limits on the amount of lobbying they can do.

Mr. Egger says that at this time he is paying for CForward’s efforts mostly with his own money (about $7,500 so far), but that the group raised more than $3,000 on the first day it became active.

It has started a fund-raising effort, drawing on contacts from Mr. Egger’s 2008 campaign called V3 (for Voice, Values, Votes), which sought information from candidates information on how they would work with nonprofits if elected. That project floundered, resulting in only a few scattered efforts. Mr. Egger says the charities he tried to mobilize lacked money and time to devote to the project.

Others have speculated that some charities may have feared getting involved in partisan politics, even though asking candidates questions about their positions is legally allowed.

Efforts to Educate

In addition to endorsing candidates, CForward will educate politicians about how nonprofits contribute to the economy by creating jobs, generating payroll taxes, and bringing money into their communities in the form of grants and contracts.

CForward is asking supporters to nominate on its Web site candidates the group might endorse, and to publicize both good and bad candidates on Twitter. It plans to create a political-action committee in early 2012 to get money to its favored candidates—something it can’t now do as a 501(c)(4) group.

Mr. Egger has recruited four people for his board: Raj Aggarwal, president of Provoc, a brand-strategy group; Alan J. Cohen, a former mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., and executive director of the Philanthropic Collaborative, a group that highlights the economic contributions of foundations; Geoff Livingston, a social-media consultant; and Andy Shallal, owner of Busboys and Poets, a Washington-area bookstore and restaurant group.