NPAction Update
Vol 2, Issue 3
2/3/2004

Welcome to this week's edition of the NPAction Update.

You are receiving this newsletter as requested during your registration with NPAction.org. To change subscription options, see the end of this message.


In this issue:
*What's New*
*Current Poll*
*Featured Article*
*Featured Forum*
*Featured Resource Links*




*What's New*

According to a survey conducted by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, 50% of Americans believe that volunteering time to a charity is more important than giving money. Only 22% view money to be of greater importance, while 23% consider time and money to be equally important. The survey results differ along age lines: 58% of Americans between ages 18 and 34 say time is more important, while only 28% of those over age 65 agree.

"Americans Say Time, Not Money, Most Important Gift to Ccharity"
http://www.thrivent.com/newsroom/news/news_print.phtml?id=176



*Current Poll*

Take a moment to participate in the biweekly NPAction Poll, continuously displayed on the right side of the website. The current poll asks if your organization has ever run an issue ad, so stop by and vote today (but don't try to vote twice!).

Maybe you have a question you've wanted to ask other nonprofits, but couldn't figure out how. Now here's your chance. Send your idea for a poll to npaction@npaction.org .

Past Poll Results
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/207




*Featured Article*

This issue's featured article comes courtesy of Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, and answers some of the more common questions about nonprofits and advocacy activity. Covering everything from election related activity, to initiatives and referenda, to lobbying foreign governments, this article might just answer that nagging question you've always had, but were afraid to ask.

"Frequently Asked Questions About Nonprofit Lobbying"
http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/429/1/169/


Remember that you can rate and comment on most NPAction articles by clicking the "New Comment" button at the end of an article.



*Featured Forum*

CBS Television recently rejected the winning ad selected by the MoveOn.org Voter Fund's "Bush in 30 Seconds" campaign. The campaign, featuring an open call for television spots highlighting failures of the Bush administration, received over 1000 entries. The ad at issue would have been the first overtly political ad to air during the Super Bowl. Discuss the controversy!

MoveOn.org and Nonprofit Speech
http://www.npaction.org/forum/messagelist/237/

NPAction Forums
http://www.npaction.org/forum/categorylist



*Featured Resource Links*

The NPAction Resource Links Directory is a human-edited compendium of tools and references, contributed by nonprofits for nonprofits. This issue, our two highlights focus on outreach.

The first resource is a primer on writing media "backgrounders," a technique that allows you to familiarize the media with your organization and issues, before you need press attention.

"Help Reporters Find You...Before they Need You"
http://www.markwright.com/backgrounder.htm


The second resource is a checklist to help promote your organizations' website. Many organizations have good and informative websites, but they can be hard to find, especially through search engines. Read this article to learn techniques to make your site more visible.

"The Web Marketing Checklist: 29 Ways to Promote Your Website"
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm


Outreach Resource Links
http://www.npaction.org/link/category/230/

Suggest a Resource Link
http://www.npaction.org/link/suggestlink



*"Steal This Code": Put NPAction on Your Site*

NPAction invites organizations to share our tools on their websites. Choose a logo that best meets your needs, whether you want to link to our site, incorporate our search engine with results from a range of nonprofit sources, add the ability to connect to federal lawmakers and national media, or state-level policymakers and media. Just copy the HTML code from our site, and you're ready to go (but when you steal the code, just let us know!).

"Steal the Code" today
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/208


*NPAction Update Archives*
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/210/


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NPAction, an online resource hosted by OMB Watch, provides access to tools and information for nonprofit advocacy from a wide range of organizational partners and sources in order to encourage greater participation by nonprofits in the policy arena. Funding for this project was provided by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Ford Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation.

For more information, contact:

NPAction
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(202) 234-8494
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© 2004 NPAction