The Nonprofit and Lobby Intersection

Nonprofit organizations (NPO's) are often used as medium by which society can engage in the public policy process. Organizations that are mission driven and service centered like nonprofits may use lobbying and activism as a means by which to influence change among general society, political and government leadership as well as other organizations. The benefits of lobbying have not been fully realized by all nonprofits as currently less than two percent of nonprofit organizations exercise their right to influence legislation. There is no clear endpoint in the advocacy versus lobbying debate as it pertains to NPO’s, as the line separating the two is very thin and the definitions, rules, and capacity for nonprofits to engage in strong direct legislation change is very complicated. The paper explores lobbying and activism into detail and discusses the challenges faced by NPOs in their advocacy and lobbying roles using specific examples.