NPAction Update
Vol 2, Issue 6
03/16/2004

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

You are receiving this newsletter as requested during your registration with NPAction.org. To unsubscribe, send an email to npaction@npaction.org.


In this issue:
*What's New*
*Current Poll*
*Featured Article*
*Featured Resource Links*
*Hey, You Asked*



*What's New*

The Christian Science Monitor published a very thought-provoking article on the daunting difficulties faced by debt-laden new graduates who would like to begin public service careers. With the cost of private colleges routinely topping 0,000, it can be extremely difficult for a graduate with an oversized loan payment to work for a charity, government agency or enter service fields like teaching or nursing. The article points out an alarming statistic: one in five college graduates say that they changed their career plans because of student debt.

"In Debt from Day One"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0309/p11s01-legn.html



*Current Poll*

Does your organization favor membership donations as your primary means for soliciting donations, or do you prefer plain-old donations. Vote on this week's poll, continuously displayed on the right hand side of the site (just don't try to vote twice!!).

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

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



*Featured Article*

If you're like most people, when you think of advocacy the target is generally a legislator, whether it's a Senator, a member of the state assembly, or someone on the city council. While legislation dictates the general law, the executive branch and executive agencies develop the nitty-gritty details in the form or rules and regulations. For example, Congress will pass a law that requires clean drinking water, but it is the EPA that decides how many parts per million of DDT can be in clean water. Advocacy activities targeted at the rulemaking process can be extremely effective, but the rulemaking process itself can be daunting at first. This issue's featured article provides an overview of how the details of law are made in federal agencies.

"Framework of the Federal Rulemaking Process"
http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/356/1/204/


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



*Featured Resource Links*

The NPAction Resource Links Directory is a human-edited compendium of over 2000 tools and references, contributed by nonprofits for nonprofits.

It's spring again, so it must be federal budget time! The president and Congress both present their own proposed budgets, which are often haggled over for the next several months. This time is a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to advocate for increased spending on programs they support, or decreased spending on programs that they oppose. However, many find the budget process difficult at best, and downright inexplicable at worst. This issue's first featured link is an extensive downloadable guide to nonprofit involvement in budget work, both in the US, and elsewhere.

"Guide to Budget Work for NGOs"
http://www.internationalbudget.org/resources/guide/guide1.pdf


The second link also deals with administrative advocacy. The US government's regulations.gov site allows users to find proposed regulations that are open to comment, and also to comment on these proposals. This is an easy way for people or organizations to participate in the rulemaking process.

"Regulations.gov"
http://www.regulations.gov/

More "administrative advocacy" links:
http://www.npaction.org/link/category/81/


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



*"Hey, You Asked"*

An NPAction user asks: "I volunteer as a guide in a national park in a program operated as a member of the Friends organization that lobbies for more funding for the park system. Are there limits on when I can hand out information urging the public to support funding for the parks?"

A: The answer all depends on what hat you're wearing. If it's a park service one, and you're an official guide, you are working for the park system (even if you're not being paid). Federal agencies and operations like the national park system cannot use federal funds for lobbying (nor, for that matter, can federal grantees).

If however, you are solely representing the Friends organization, and using Friends resources, you can make grassroots lobbying appeals, just like any other nonprofit, so long as it is not over the allowable limit for that organization. For information on how grassroots lobbying is defined and measured, see NPAction's article on the "IRS Definition of Lobbying" at http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/94/1/169/

For the full answer, with references, see:



To ask a question for the experts behind "Hey, You Asked" go to:
http://www.npaction.org/forum/messagelist/170



*"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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