Getting Involved
Many nonprofit organizations have stood on the sidelines during election season, due in large part to fears that they could violate legal restrictions -- but the law clearly allows 501(c)(3) nonprofits to engage in voter education, voter registration, and get-out-the-vote activities. There is one overriding rule: The activities must be nonpartisan, which simply means a nonprofit cannot show or state a preference for or against a particular candidate or candidates, a particular political party, or candidates or parties who have taken particular positions.

The pages in this section provide information about what your organization can do to get involved in the upcoming elections, as well as ideas about how nonprofits are working to help all citizens express their opinions in the 2008 elections.

Member Initiative of the Month

To help voters navigate their way through the campaign rhetoric and get up-to-speed on the key issues that are playing out in the presidential election, Public Agenda, a nonpartisan nonprofit research and civic engagement organization, has launched the “Voter’s Survival Kit: The Smart Citizen’s Guide to What the Politicians Won’t Tell You.” The Voter’s Survival Kit provides a nonpartisan crib sheet to help voters get the facts straight and protect themselves from political spin.  The six issue guides in the kit cover health care, climate change, the economy, taxes, spending and the debt, foreign policy, and immigration.