Nonprofits and advocacy : engaging community and government in an era of retrenchment

330 Pages·2014·4.93 MB·English

by  Pekkanen

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 organizations—United States. 2. Advocacy advertising—United
States.
3. Policy sciences—United States. I. Pekkanen, Robert. II. Smith, Steven
Rathgeb, 1951–
III. Tsujinaka, Yutaka, 1954–
HD62.6.N693 2014
361.7′630973—dc23 2013032248
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials,
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waste, whenever possible.
For my sister, Sarah—ROBERT
For my sister, Nanette—STEVEN
For my son, Kei—YUTAKA
CONTENTS
Preface
Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Nonprofit Advocacy: Definitions and Concepts
Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith
Part One: The Local and National Dimensions of Nonprofit
Advocacy
1 The Group Basis of City Politics
Jeffrey M. Berry and Kent E. Portney
2 Nonprofit Advocacy in Seattle and Washington, DC
Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven Rathgeb Smith
3 Shaping the Government–Nonprofit Partnership: Direct and Indirect
Advocacy
Elizabeth T. Boris and Matthew Maronick with Milena Nikolova
4 Nonprofit Advocacy in the Nation’s Capital
Carol J. DeVita, Milena Nikolova, and Katie L. Roeger
5 From Skid Row to the Statehouse: How Nonprofit Homeless Service
Providers Overcome Barriers to Policy Advocacy Involvement
Jennifer E. Mosley
Part Two: Organizational Politics, Strategy, and Tactics
6 Advocacy in Hard Times: Nonprofit Organizations and the Representation
of Marginalized Groups in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11
Dara Z. Strolovitch
7 Gender Identity and the Shifting Basis of Advocacy by US Women’s
Groups, 1920–2000
Kristin Goss
8 The Political Voice of American Children: Nonprofit Advocacy and a
Century of Representation for Child Well-Being
Doug Imig
9 Analyzing the Practice of Nonprofit Advocacy: Comparing Two Human
Service Networks
Jodi Sandfort
10 Effective Advocacy: Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders from Research and
Practice
Gary D. Bass, Alan J. Abramson, and Emily Dewey
List of Contributors
Index
PREFACE
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 Obama’s 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 Obama’s 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 candidate’s positions. Super-PACs have thus had an important
influence even if the election’s 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 Foundation’s 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 Obama’s health-
care reform law. Many ballot initiatives across the country—from the
legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington State to charter schools
and gay marriage—have 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 (O’Rourke, 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 chapter 1,
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 chapter 1, Jeffrey
M. Berry and Kent E. Portney present detailed findings on the role of nonprofits
in urban politics, especially small community groups such as neighborhood
associations. In chapter 2, we evaluate research on nonprofit advocacy in Seattle
and Washington, DC. Elizabeth Boris and Matthew Maronick focus in chapter 3
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,