Nonprofit Lobbying Strategy: Challenging or Championing the Conventional Wisdom?

Prentice, Christopher R.; Brudney, Jeffrey L.

doi:10.1007/s11266-016-9760-x

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Advocacy strategies are used to shape public opinion or bring attention to an issue and, in the form of political advocacy, they are often intended to impact agenda setting, design, implementation, monitoring, and feedback within the policy process. Political advocacy tactics help nonprofit organizations pursue or protect important social programs that will benefit society, or conversely to defeat a public policy that will have negative impacts on specific nonprofit organizations or the nonprofit sector as a whole (Berry & Arons, 2003;Prentice & Brudney, 2017). Nonprofit organizations engage in political advocacy to strengthen political ties with legislators working on specific policy issues that are of interest to nonprofit organizations (Nicholson-Crotty, 2007).…”

Section: Advocacy and Lobbying Definedmentioning

confidence: 99%

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To Lobby or Not to Lobby? Examining the Determinants of Nonprofit Organizations Taking the IRS 501(h) Election

Grasse¹,

Ward²,

Miller‐Stevens³

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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While public policy scholars are gaining a better understanding of the nonprofit sector's impact on the policy process, the sector's role in lobbying efforts has only been studied in a limited manner. Currently, nonprofit organizations' lobbying activities and expenditures are limited by federal regulations, which are often misunderstood by nonprofit leaders. This article uses 2003 IRS Form 990 data for all nonprofit organizations in the United States to examine the organizational determinants of 501(c)3 nonprofits taking the Internal Revenue Service's 501(h) election and whether organizations use h-election in a manner consistent with patterns of strategic behavior. Results show that nonprofit organizations that are reliant on direct public support are more likely to take the h-election, while those reliant on government grants are less likely to take the h-election. Examining lobbying expenditures, we find nonprofits associate with 501(h) election in a pattern consistent with strategic behavior. The findings suggest that nonprofit organizations with certain revenue streams and in specific subsectors respond differently to this election decision, and that organizations may respond strategically to mechanisms regulating their political activity.

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Section: Advocacy and Lobbying Definedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Political advocacy encompasses many strategies, one of which is lobbying (Boris & Krehely, 2002;Prentice & Brudney, 2017). In a broad context, lobbying is "an attempt to influence the public policy and issue-making functions of a regulatory, administrative, or legislative body" (Hopkins, 1992, p. 104).…”

Section: Advocacy and Lobbying Definedmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Lobby or Not to Lobby? Examining the Determinants of Nonprofit Organizations Taking the IRS 501(h) Election

Grasse¹,

Ward²,

Miller‐Stevens³

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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“…Insider lobbying, while typically less costly, nonetheless requires that the lobbying organization have expertise and contacts within the target organization aligned with the lobbyists’ views, and that such contacts hold sufficient power to change organizational policy (Mosley, 2011; Pallas & Uhlin, 2014). Effectiveness may also require or reward lobbying across multiple domains, not just an organization’s core issue area, and at multiple levels of governance (Prentice & Brudney, 2017). Developing such a roster of contacts typically requires long-term engagement with the target organization and possibly the development of technical expertise in specific issue areas, such that target staff find NGO input credible and useful (Mosley, 2011; Pallas, 2013).…”

Section: Defining Transnational Advocacy: By Target or By Partner?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational Advocacy Without Northern NGO Partners: Vietnamese NGOs in the HIV/AIDS Sector

Pallas

Nguyen²

2018

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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Existing scholarship on transnational advocacy can give the impression that low- and middle-income country (“Southern”) nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) require high-income country (“Northern”) NGO partners to effectively engage actors outside their own state. However, Vietnamese NGOs (VNGOs) have had significant success in their efforts to change the policies and practices of bilateral and multilateral actors toward Vietnam without significant Northern NGO partnership. This article asks how VNGOs have achieved such influence and whether their advocacy effectiveness is likely to be mirrored elsewhere. Drawing on a novel case study of VNGOs in the HIV/AIDS sector, it finds that expertise, credibility, and high organizational capacity have allowed VNGOs to successfully adopt Northern NGOs’ insider lobbying strategies and implement them independently. While the development of VNGO capacity has been accelerated by the unusual legal environment in Vietnam, we predict that as Southern NGO capacity increases elsewhere, reliance on Northern partners will decrease.

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“…Advocacy can take many forms, including lobbying, political activity, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, litigation, education campaigns, etc. (Prentice & Brudney, 2017).…”

Section: Defining Lobbyingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “State” of Nonprofit Lobbying Research: Data, Definitions, and Directions for Future Study

Prentice

2018

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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This article seeks to facilitate future nonprofit lobbying research by providing a clear definition of lobbying, reviewing Form 990 lobbying data, detailing new state-level lobbying information, and offering several directions for future study. First, the article uses federal statutes, Internal Revenue Service regulations, and legal interpretations to define lobbying so that clearer boundaries exist for future research. Next, the components of Form 990 where public charities report lobbying activities and expenses are reviewed. Given the intricacies of Form 990 and the complexity associated with properly allocating expenses, various scholars question the validity of expense data obtained from Form 990. Hence, in the subsequent section, the article introduces publicly available lobbying information from the State of North Carolina. These data offer an information-rich supplement to Form 990 data and demonstrate the potential usefulness of state-level nonprofit information for scholarly inquiry. The article concludes with guidance and recommendations for future research.

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Nonprofit Lobbying Strategy: Challenging or Championing the Conventional Wisdom?

Cited by 8 publications

References 30 publications

To Lobby or Not to Lobby? Examining the Determinants of Nonprofit Organizations Taking the IRS 501(h) Election

To Lobby or Not to Lobby? Examining the Determinants of Nonprofit Organizations Taking the IRS 501(h) Election

Transnational Advocacy Without Northern NGO Partners: Vietnamese NGOs in the HIV/AIDS Sector

The “State” of Nonprofit Lobbying Research: Data, Definitions, and Directions for Future Study

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