Pekkanen Robert J - Nonprofits and advocacy : engaging community and government in an era of retrenchment

Nonprofits and Advocacy

NONPROFITS AND ADVOCACY

Engaging Community and Government in an Era of Retrenchment

EDITED BY
Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith,
AND Yutaka Tsujinaka

2014 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2014
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nonprofits and advocacy / engaging community and government in an era of retrenchment/
edited by Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-1349-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 1-4214-1349-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4214-1350-1 (electronic) ISBN 1-4214-1350-7 (electronic)
1. Nonprofit organizationsUnited States. 2. Advocacy advertisingUnited States.
3. Policy sciencesUnited States. I. Pekkanen, Robert. II. Smith, Steven Rathgeb, 1951
III. Tsujinaka, Yutaka, 1954
HD62.6.N693 2014
361.7630973dc23 2013032248

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For my sister, SarahROBERT

For my sister, NanetteSTEVEN

For my son, KeiYUTAKA

Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith

Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith

Jeffrey M. Berry and Kent E. Portney

Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith

Elizabeth T. Boris and Matthew Maronick with Milena Nikolova

Carol J. DeVita, Milena Nikolova, and Katie L. Roeger

Jennifer E. Mosley

Dara Z. Strolovitch

Kristin Goss

Doug Imig

Jodi Sandfort

Gary D. Bass, Alan J. Abramson, and Emily Dewey

Nonprofit advocacy across a wide range of issues has received unprecedented attention in recent years. The decision of the US Supreme Court in the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, allowing unlimited campaign contributions of corporations and wealthy individuals, unleashed a torrent of spending on general elections. In particular, political action committees (PACs and even Super-PACs) such as Crossroads GPS, Restore Our Future, and Priorities USA Action spent huge sums on the 2012 US presidential campaign. These PACs are typically organized as 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations. Further, the presidential campaign and a host of high-profile Senate and House races called attention to the mobilization of citizens at the local level by nonprofit organizations including charitable 501(c)(3) organizations, churches, political parties, unions, and trade associations such as chambers of commerce.

President Barack Obamas reelection led to a lot of speculation about the actual impact of the flood of Super-PAC cash on the election (Freeland, 2012). Since a disproportionate amount of Super-PAC money was spent to defeat President Obama and Senate Democrats, the natural reaction to Obamas victory and the victories of many targeted Senate Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was to question the impact of this spending. Indeed, it would appear likely that the Super-PACs changed the national political conversation and even the candidates positions. Super-PACs have thus had an important influence even if the elections outcome was not what many of the Super-PACs desired (Bouie, 2012).

In addition to Super-PACs, the advocacy of a wide assortment of nonprofits has received media attention. The intense political controversy surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundations decision to end its funding of Planned Parenthood (and the subsequent reversal of this decision) high-lighted the complex dilemmas for nonprofits in a highly polarized political environment. PAC activity is also evident in religious groups, such as church leaders who have been active in opposing gay marriage referenda and President Obamas health-care reform law. Many ballot initiatives across the countryfrom the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington State to charter schools and gay marriagehave attracted the involvement of countless nonprofit organizations and their supporters.

While the focus has been on US electoral politics during 2012, nonprofits have also been increasingly active in advocacy efforts that target corporations, especially national and international nonprofits active in environmental causes and fair labor practices (Yaziji and Doh, 2009). For instance, Greenpeace has pressured corporations through aggressive advocacy to adopt certain environmental practices and to reduce the use of genetically modified foods (Yaziji, 2004). A coalition of nonprofit advocacy organizations has tried to preserve old-growth forests by targeting large companies such as Staples that sell paper goods (ORourke, 2004).

The growth of nonprofits has also meant more nonprofit engagement in local politics. As detailed by Jeffrey M. Berry and Kent E. Portney in , nonprofits are now active in a host of municipal issues, from zoning to economic development to social welfare. Despite this activity, however, many nonprofits are less engaged in policy advocacy than would be expected or predicted, given the history of nonprofits advocacy dating back to the nineteenth century (Skocpol, 1999). Political scientists have long studied interest groups (Berry, 1977; Moe, 1980; Walker, 1991), but they have rarely directly investigated nonprofits as a distinct example of interest group advocacy. Further, scholars of nonprofits and philanthropy have tended to approach advocacy by nonprofits without a direct engagement in the rich political science literature on interest groups and political participation, with some exceptions (see Bass et al., 2007; Berry and Arons, 2003; Jenkins, 2006). This volume unites political science and nonprofit scholarly perspectives to further our understanding of nonprofit advocacy, an increasingly vital topic to the future of American democracy.

Following the introductory chapter, part one contains research on local nonprofit organizations and their engagement in advocacy. In on nonprofit agencies that contract with government agencies for various social and health services. These agencies have a deep stake in the policy process but often face constraints on their ability to undertake advocacy; the authors provide insight into this complex relationship between nonprofits and government. The fourth chapter, by Carol J. De-Vita, Milena Nikolova, and Katie L. Roeger, evaluates nonprofit advocacy in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region. Part ones concluding chapter by Jennifer E. Mosley presents her detailed research on the advocacy of homeless service providers in Chicago; her findings have broad relevance to our understanding of nonprofit advocacy and strategy overall.

presents his findings on advocacy by national childrens organizations over the course of the twentieth century. Jodi Sandforts chapter addresses advocacy by coalitions and associations representing nonprofit human service agencies, which have increasingly attracted interest. The books final chapter, by Gary D. Bass, Alan J. Abramson, and Emily Dewey, connects the academic research on nonprofit advocacy with the world of nonprofit practice, and provides specific observations and suggestions for nonprofit organizations to improve the extent and effectiveness of their advocacy.