NPAction Update
Vol 2, Issue 20
10/12/2004

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- Advice on Blogs*
*Current Poll- Voters*
*Featured Article- Influencing Rulemaking*
*Featured Resource Links- State Administrative Law and Regulations.gov*


*What's New*

Weblogs (or blogs, as they're more commonly known), which are a kind of online diary, have been around for a while, but have been attracting more attention from nonprofits lately. Some organizations already have blogs on their sites, and some are considering them, but there hasn't been a lot of advice on how to set them up. Michael Gilbert's Nonprofit Online News reported recently on a new corporate blog guide written by Robert Scoble that gives a lot of useful advice for organizations who would like to start a blog, or already have one.

"The Corporate Weblog Manifesto"
http://www.changethis.com/2.CorporateWeblog



*Current Poll*

This months' poll on organizations working with voters is still open. Vote in the 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*

Sure, your organization probably has a pretty good idea of how to lobby a legislator, but what about the executive branch? While Congress writes laws in a broad sense, it's usually the executive branch that works out the nitty-gritty of the laws (for example, Congress would say that the air must be 25% cleaner by 2015, and the executive would have to figure out whose emissions will be limited to get to this goal). The devil being in the details, nonprofits who know how to influence the rulemaking process can have a serious impact. This series of articles gives you the background you need to influence rulemaking.

"Influencing the Rulemaking Process"
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/209/


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 Link*

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

Now that you've read the featured article, you're rightly thinking "well, what about state executive branches?" This issue's first link takes care of that by providing a set of administrative law resources for each state.

Administrative Law Resources by State
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/admin/admin5.html


Looking to use your new knowledge of the rulemaking process to comment on a proposed regulation? Look no further than this issue's second link, which is a database of pending regulations that are open for public comment, as well as a place for you to send comments on the regulations. Search by keyword, topic, agency, and even for comments that are due today!

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


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.

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