Nonprofit Congress

The Primary Project was a national effort to make the needs and impact of the nonprofit sector part of the national dialogue by educating presidential candidates and the public about the sector. Spearheaded by the Nonprofit Congress, an initiative of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, and the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits (NHCN), the Primary Project educated presidential candidates in New Hampshire through the fall and winter of 2007.

Now it's time to expand the Primary Project from the presidential campaign to the multitude of federal, state, and local elections happening in the fall of 2008. The next phase is called "Elections 2008: Raise the Nonprofit Profile." Check out the resources below and contact us if you want to get involved!

Our Goals

The 2008 federal, state and local races present a key opportunity to inject the issues of nonprofit groups into the public debate. Our objectives are simple:

• To enable those running for elected positions to hear the voice of the nonprofit movement: how we serve our communities, the needs we hear, and our potential to partner in solutions.
• To enable nonprofits to know where candidates stand on nonprofit issues and strengthening the sector.
• To build awareness that issues affecting the nonprofit sector belong in all candidates' platforms.
• To alert candidates that the voices of nonprofit clients matter in elections.

How You Can Get Involved

• Learn more about the Primary Project
• Apply the Primary Project's lessons to ALL elections
• Ask the candidates questions about your issues
• Stay legal
• Help candidates draft policy statements on your issues
• Create candidate forums
• Get your community involved
• Publicize your work
• What are you waiting for? 

Learn more about the Primary Project

• Primary Project Case Study [PDF] by Mary Ellen Jackson, Executive Director, New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits 
• Videos
• Media coverage

Apply the Primary Project lessons to ALL the 2008 elections:
presidential, US Senate, House of Representatives, gubernatorial, and a myriad of races for other state, county, and local offices.

• Know your candidates
  • Access the RESULTS election web resource
  • For the US Congress 
  • For State Governor and other state offices you can check here, here, or here 
• Remind yourself why the nonprofit sector is critical to citizens
• Identify the issues that matter to your nonprofit. Learn if there is a state association of nonprofits with whom you can work or an issue-focused and broad-based coalition
  • Check out the Candidate Education Project of the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits 
  • See what Maine is doing with the V3 campaign
• Consider getting involved on ballot measures. Here's a guide on how to Support or Oppose Ballot Measures from NCNA's President & CEO Tim Delaney, CLPI, and NVEN. 

Ask your candidates questions about the issues. Here are some tools to help you with your questions: 

• Questions from the Primary Project 
• Bird-dogging 101 from RESULTS (on p. 10) or Access tips for bird dogs [PDF]
• Sample questions from the V3 campaign
• Legal tips: "What Questions to Ask (and which ones to avoid)" from NCNA's President & CEO Tim Delaney, CLPI, and NVEN
• Meet with campaign staff for candidates to discuss the issues
• Email questions to candidates via their websites

Stay legal 

• Guidelines from the Primary Project 
• Do's and Don'ts from from NCNA's President & CEO Tim Delaney, CLPI, and NVEN
• Nonprofit Action website 
• Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest: Frequently Asked Questions 
• IRS guidelines
• Alliance for Justice

Help candidates draft policy statements on nonprofit issues: check out this page for more details 

Create candidate forums

• Find your local League of Women Voters and partner with them
• Sample Guidelines for candidates' forums 
  • National Voter Engagement Network has guides in Spanish and English
  • The Minnesota Participation Project's "A Nonprofit's Guide to Hosting Candidate Forums" 
  • Independent Sector's Guidelines
  • American Institute of Architects Guide [PDF]

Get Your Community Involved

Request a free "Nonprofit Voter Engagement Starter Kit" from the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network (NVEN). The Kit has all the essentials any nonprofit interested in encouraging their communities to participate and vote this fall, including:

• "Nonprofits, Voting and Elections": NVEN's guide to permissible voter engagement activities for 501(c)(3)s
• Vote November 4 T-shirt
• Vote November 4 buttons, stickers
• Nonprofit Voter Participation Checklist

Publicize successes: Blog it!

Send us your story of asking a candidate a question about nonprofits and we can post it on the Nonprofit Congress blog.

What are you waiting for? Begin creating nonprofit champions NOW!

Efforts made now with candidates live on to form relationships with elected officials. You can become a credible source of nonprofit information for them and they can expect to hear from you about nonprofit issues as they develop. Over time, we can create champions for nonprofits among our elected officials, who then help bring our agenda to others in new collaborations and legislation that serves the nonprofit movement.

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