"People think they can't make a difference because they're just one person. Too many people forget that the power is with the people." -Truman Hurt, activist training workshop attendee.

Kentuckians For the Commonwealth (KFTC) has participated in several training workshops across the state which teach voter empowerment skills to activists. The informed activists are then charged with mobilizing and educating citizens who are often faced with discrimination and ignored by traditional political strategies such as low-income communities, former felons and persons with disabilities. Read More

College Students Encourage Youth Voter Turnout with SAVE

After being forced to wait in line for ten hours to vote because the voting precinct was not allocated enough voting machines, Matthew Segal became engaged with election issues while in college, sparking the policy reform platform that SAVE promotes.

Segal and his experiences as a college student at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio were the true inspiration for SAVE, the Student Association for Voter Empowerment. SAVE is a national, non-profit, non-partisan organization with a mission to increase youth voter turnout by removing excess barriers to voting and promoting stronger civic education for young voters. Read More

Key to Success: Safe Food Advocates Use a Range of Advocacy Strategies
In order to reform government and industry practices, Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.) uses a variety of advocacy tactics, including public education and awareness, research, regulatory advocacy, congressional lobbying, and victim assistance. S.T.O.P.'s members include families who have suffered illness and loss from a contaminated meat and poultry, produce, juice and ready-to-eat processed foods and more. In this article their leaders explain how their comprehensive advocacy strategy has produced significant results. Read More

Creative Strategies Help DC Vote Push for Voting Rights
DC Vote's leadership remains hopeful that Congress will pass the DC Voting Rights Act in 2008. To do so, they’re stepping up their advocacy efforts. This article showcases DC Vote's innovative and determined advocacy efforts as a source of potential inspiration to nonprofits everywhere that serve the under-represented and the marginalized. Read More

Michigan Nonprofits Form Michigan Voice to Engage Voters
In 2005, many Michigan nonprofits working for social justice in their communities were feeling discouraged and beleaguered. Not only were their issues were being ignored by policymakers in Michigan, but they also saw themselves on the defensive, fighting bills and policies that hurt the constituencies they represent. To fight back and get social justice issues back on the state agenda, several dozen 501(c)(3) organizations decided they needed a more cohesive voice for social justice in Michigan. Out of this desire, Michigan Voice was born. This year they have launched a cooperative project to share voter files, in order to target voter registration drives more effectively. Read More

Western States Center's VOTE Project Trains Nonprofits to Engage Voters
Project VOTE is about more than voting: it helps groups use increased public interest in issues during election season as a way of building community involvement and civic engagement for the long term. Read More

Birddogging: an essential tool for issue advocates trying to change policy

Bird-dogging is a tactic used to directly engage policy makers when they make public appearances at campaign events, town meetings, or speeches. The aim is to put tough questions to elected officials or candidates and force them to answer when they are in front of their constituents, voters, and the media. To promote bird-dogging as a strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the 08.Stop.AIDS campaign developed a guide for its partners Birddogging 101. Although the guide centers on the issue of HIV/ AIDS policy, it is a helpful how-to manual for all issue advocates on using bird-dogging as an effective advocacy strategy. Here is a summary and some examples: Read More

No Casino Gettysburg: The Grassroots Battle for Gettysburg
The last time No Casino Gettysburg, a nonprofit grassroots movement, was featured in NPAction we highlighted their use of candlelight vigils to openly express their opposition to the placement of a casino one mile from the Gettysburg civil war battle site. After a 20 month long battle, ending in December 2006, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) rejected plans for the Gettysburg Casino. The PGCB cited "overwhelming opposition" as one of the reasons for their decision. Find out more about how the creative and strategic advocacy efforts of No Casino Gettysburg played a key role in the decision to build elsewhere. Read More

Making Their Issue Visible: The Vote for Homes! Coalition
Sponsored by Project H.O.M.E., the Vote for Homes! Coalition is a nonpartisan advocacy group based in Philadelphia working to register and mobilize low income and homeless people to vote. This highly organized and involved method of promoting an advocacy agenda while empowering low income voters is inspiring. The Vote for Homes! Coalition has registered over 8,500 voters and proven to successfully help homeless individuals overcome voting barriers. Read More

Advocacy and Grassroots Organizing Among Top Priorities of Nonprofit Congress
For two days in October 2006 over 380 nonprofit delegates from 47 states and the District of Columbia met in Washington to "chose their priorities and began to develop tactics to get us there", according to Audrey Alvarado, executive Director of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA). The meeting "was long overdue in that it purposefully brought together in dialogue the small-to-mid-size and often excruciatingly-local groups that make up the largest proportion of nonprofits in the U.S.," according to a column by Ruth McCambridge, in the Philanthropy Journal . She noted that selection of advocacy and grassroots community activity as one of the top priorities, "if embraced, could re-introduce this sector to the base and practice of its potential power and effectiveness." The other two priorities are organizational effectiveness and public awareness and support.

This effort has already generated healthy discussion and debate about how nonprofits can be more effective at achieving their goals, the need for a broader role in setting public priorities in addition to delivery of services, and the role that advocacy and grassroots organizing play in making positive change. Learn more about what the Nonprofit Congress is doing nationally and in your state, and join the dialog on what comes next. Read More

Nonprofits Fight Voter Suppression
In 2006 nonprofits are leading the charge to protect voters' rights and the integrity of the electoral process. State and local groups have partnered with national organizations that provide information and legal expertise to challenge new laws and regulations that inhibit peoples' ability to register and vote. Known as the "new voter suppression tactics", these laws place unnecessary burdens on nonpartisan, civic-minded groups that want to help people register and vote. Find out more about how these nonprofits are coping with this new challenge. The moral of this story is simple. You don't have to be a voting rights group to fight voter suppression! Read More

How To: Empowering People In Need
The Oregon Food Bank found a powerful resource to make their advocacy against hunger more effective: their clients! They recruited their clients to a committee that worked in partnership with staff. Together they decided advocacy priorities, brainstormed strategy and met with public officials and the media. The investment of resources and staff time and paid off in successful advocacy campaigns.

Their next step was to share their experience in a how-to a manual, Connecting People to Power: How Service Providers Can Mobilize Volunteers for Advocacy, written by Matt Lewis, a Bill Emerson Hunger Fellow who worked on the campaign. They have agreed to have the entire contents of the manual posted on NPAction.org. This summary has links to the chapters. Read More

Western Organization of Resource Councils: How To...Build Strong Advocacy Organizations

The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) has published a series of "How To" guides for citizens who are building advocacy organizations. We are pleased to share these resources on NPAction. WORC is comprised of seven community organizations, located in Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, who are working together to "advance the vision of a democratic, sustainable, and just society through community action." Over 9,500 members benefit from the training, resources and issue coordination WORC provides.

When tens of thousands of people fleeing Hurricane Katrina were forced to leave their pets behind, the Humane Society of the United States organized the largest animal rescue and sheltering operation in U.S. history. Now, in order to promote legislation to protect animals from harm in future disasters, the Humane Society has created eCards that share the stories and images of a few of the animals they saved. Supporters can send the eCards to others, fostering interest and support for the legislation.