Printable Version Email to a Friend Resources for Nonprofits from Western States Center

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.

The mission of the Western States Center is to foster social, economic, racial and environmental justice in the eight Western states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Alaska. For over twenty years, Western States Center has been working across state lines to coordinate the grassroots activities of nonprofits, in order to increase their overall effectiveness.

Since 2004, the Voter Organizing and Training Empowerment (VOTE) Project has been one of the Center's core activities. The 2008/2009 VOTE program will launch in February with twelve nonprofit groups from across the region. The goal of the program is to improve the capacity of regional nonprofits to engage in electoral politics in a nonpartisan way. The Project helps nonprofits connect their grassroots organizing work to the public policy arena, both through the ballot box and at state capitols by training groups to:

• Register voters in priority constituencies;
• Educate and engage those new voters (motivation and mobilization);
• Expand the organization's regular leadership through thoughtful training and leadership development programs;
• Conduct political analysis with a longer term perspective; and
• Keep members engaged in civic affairs after the election.

By committing to support the participating nonprofits beyond the 2008 election and through their state's legislative sessions in the spring of 2009, the Center's Civic Participation Director —Nancy Haque — believes the VOTE Project groups will build deeper skills and stronger organizations through the voter engagement process. Haque describes this as the Center's "movement-building" approach to nonprofit advocacy.

"We're thinking about it as a long-term undertaking. This year’s VOTE project is different than previous years because our engagement with the groups will last longer. We plan to support these groups for eighteen months. We're not just thinking about the November elections, but rather how these groups can build their organizations, their leaders, and empower their members, through electoral action."

As part of the VOTE Project, the Center will help the participating groups obtain better voter data, as well as user-friendly software to enhance its usability. According to Haque, "There are several different types of programs and organizations that offer this type of data… it can be very confusing and expensive. We're trying to find a way to ensure affordable access for all our VOTE groups. With this data, for example, they could see who in their community is registered to vote."

The VOTE 2009/2009 Project will also consist of:

• Four group trainings to provide a common framework for movement-building electoral work and peer support;
• Tailored technical assistance via one-one meetings with Center staff through the course of the project;
• Leveraging national and regional resources to build the capacity of the organization;
• Financial assistance for each group's civic engagement work;
• Coordination of peer support and contact.

Through the VOTE project, the Center hopes to ultimately expand the ability of informed communities to participate in the public policy process and in elections. The Center has been able to expand the VOTE Project to support groups over an extended time period in part because of the generosity of an individual donor. According to Haque, "We're giving most of the recent gift we received away through re-granting. In doing so, we're trying to set an example and get others groups to consider to year-in-year-out support to other nonprofits."

The VOTE Project focuses on organizations in communities that are often under-represented in the policy-making process— immigrants and refugees, youth, Native Americans, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, people of color organizations and women. Haque says, "The Center really believes in working with marginalized communities. We want to send the message that you can build power in your community, and that electoral organizing is one effective way to get people to more involved, more engaged."

For Haque, a primary goal of the VOTE program is to help more nonprofits leaders to see elections as opportunities, rather than events to avoid out of fear. When asked why she thinks more nonprofits do not participate in voter engagement activities, Haque said,

"Groups with 501(c)(3) status often have false notions that they can't do anything involving politics. Their leaders don’t want to touch lobbying or electoral activities. They think of those as activities that other people do. To engage more nonprofits in voter engagement, we need to demystify the process."

The nonprofit organizations participating in the VOTE 2008/2009 Project are: in Oregon, Center for Intercultural Organizing, Community Alliance of Tenants, Oregon Action, Oregon Student Association, Partnership for Safety & Justice, Rural Organizing Project and Voz Hispana; in Montana, Montana Women Vote; in Wyoming, Equality State Policy Center; in Nevada, The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada; and in Washington state, Hate Free Zone and the Statewide Poverty Action Network.

The Western States Center is a 501(c)(3) organization with an affiliated 501(c)(4).

Building Grassroots Power: An Introduction to Electoral Resources is designed as a self-guided tour for your organization to explore the world of electoral politics. It can be used as:

• Background information for your organization when considering whether and how to get involved in electoral politics;
• A discussion and training guide for your organization to use in interactive sessions with leaders, members and staff — either before or after you make the decision to get involved in electoral politics; and
• A menu of training ideas to help shape the training or consultation you may choose to seek from outside sources once you've committed to getting involved in electoral politics.