Tuesday, October 07, 2008

On Friday, the Commissioner of Social Security asked six states to review voter registration verification procedures in order to ensure compliance with federal law. The six states contacted were Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio.

Michael Astrue, the Commissioner, noticed extraordinarily high levels of requests to SSA despite the fact that under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, most states are required to verify the last four digits of Social Security numbers only of those new citizens seeking to register to vote that do not have a valid state driver's license.

The reason for such increased concern is that it is essential that people entitled to register to vote are allowed to do so without obstacles.

Order your FREE Nonprofitvote Starter Kit today!

Each kit includes: "Vote November 4th" T-Shirt, buttons, stickers, and a bumper sticker.

Remember to certify that your organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Monday, October 06, 2008

As the election approaches, voters should be on the look out for a number of time-honored tricks. An article from abc news, warns that voters, especially students should be conscious of underhanded tactics that are being used to confuse voters about their registration.

The article warns to beware of:

• "Push-poll" phone calls using the guise of a survey to push negative information about a certain candidate
• Leaflets or emails that list the wrong date, or even a rain date for the election
• Automated voicemail messages that tell voters polling locations have been changed
• Repeated late night automated calls with a "message" from a candidate

Even though strict federal laws should make such schemes impossible, experts say that the Internet is bringing the extreme ability to allow pranks to be carried out easily and anonymously.

The Right Question Project is a non-profit educational organization that works to develop new methods and ideas for mobilizing the potential of tens of millions of people in low and moderate-income communities to become more self sufficient in their own lives and also to become active citizens participating in all levels of society.

RQP has developed the concept of "microdemocracy," a new starting point for democratic action that can help make democracy work better for all people, no matter their educational, income or literacy level. The Microdemocracy Strategy has three key components:

• Recognize the democratic significance and potential of the public terrain where millions of individual citizens come face to face with public agencies.
• Teach simple and powerful skills for focusing on decisions and formulating questions that can lead to more effective participation in decision-making.
• Tap into an already existing workforce of several million frontline workers who can teach the skills to the tens of millions of people with whom they work.

RQP is currently implementing The Right Question Project Voter Engagement Strategy for Election Day and Beyond in these ten states: Arizona, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Get the RQP Guide for Motivating New Voters here.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

What would you ask President McCain or President Obama to do on day one?

The Better World Campaign, an advocacy group in Washington, DC that seeks to improve U.S. relations with the United Nations and its member countries, created a website, which allows Americans to tell the next president their ideas for improving American leadership in the world. The site, On Day One, features a section, 9 for '09 which highlights what most Americans feel are the nine most pressing issues currently facing the country. 9 for '09 includes: US image in the world, Iraq, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, poverty, peacekeeping, democracy and human rights, climate and energy, as well as global women’s issues. The site also features a blog, video interviews with politicians and poll questions.

Have your say and tell the candidates your ideas for a better world!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Global Summit for Social Responsibility, which convened April 30-May 2, 2008, emerged with a goal to generate a voluntary set of "Guiding Principles for Associations in Social Responsibility." A draft was proposed and will be incorporated to the agenda for "Associations as Agents of World Benefit: Carrying the Movement Forward," a virtual mini-summit beginning October 14th and ending October 16th. The summit aims to share progress, goals, and opportunities to the groups that emerged as a result of the Global Summit last spring. It is open to anyone interested in social responsibility.

The Guiding Principles for Socially Responsible Associations include a section on each of the following:

• Preamble
• Responsible Advocacy
• Environmental and Economic Sustainability
• Public Protection- Ethics, Self Regulation, Human Rights
• Diversity
• Philanthropy/Community Service
• Leadership

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently featured an article entitled, "How Bad Is It? Economy’s Downturn Prompts New Challenges for Charities." In the article, Holly Hall, the author, emphasizes how the current economic situation may significantly alter donations to charities. The downturn could potentially affect not just private giving, but money charities receive from government sources as well.

The current state of the economy has already provoked some charities to change their fund-raising approach. The article sites several charities that are moving quickly to minimize potential damages in the next few months. The Associated Services for the Blind in Philadelphia, for example, is delaying its annual November awards ceremony and fund-raising event until January because recruiting corporate sponsors and ticket buyers is substantially more difficult this year than in previous years.

Many charities are also adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude until they know for sure how the commotion in the financial industry will affect their donors and impact funds. Leaders of charities and nonprofits are trying to get out ahead of the financial crisis by holding meetings and several conference calls to discuss new fund-raising strategies that should be adopted in the coming weeks.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Join the Communications Consortium Media Center for the release and book signing of their new guide: Strategic Communications for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with the Media.

This is a new addition of Strategic Communications for Nonprofits, which was first published in 1999. The book offers guidance to developing effective media relations and assistance in creating a communications strategy aimed at creating social or policy change. It builds on the earlier addition and includes new case studies, new trends in media branding and trends in technology.

Strategic Communications for Nonprofits includes chapters on the following:

• The Basics of Strategic Communications
• Elements of a Strategic Communications Plan
• Conducting Research and Targeting Audiences
• Framing and Developing Messages
• Navigating a Changing Industry
• Making the Most of Your Resources
• Earning Good Media Coverage
• Responding to a Media Crisis and managing Backlash
• Selecting and Training Spokespeople
• Capitalizing on the Power of Partnerships

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Virginia Tech students recently became wrapped up in the confusion that surrounds the definition of residency when trying to register to vote. In a recent article in US News, the decision of the State Board of Elections in Virginia to jump in and revise the guidelines to say that a college address can be accepted as a residential address for voter registration is receiving vast attention.

The current commotion at Virginia Tech is no new phenomenon. It is a problem that college students have encountered in many states for many election cycles: "If I’m a college student, where should I register to vote?"

Despite the fact that federal courts have ruled that students have the right to vote from campus, state residency laws making things more convoluted. The decision of how to define residency is left up to the state, or more often, a particular municipality.

Eleven states currently have a very difficult registration process for college students that prevents them from voting on campus. In some states, PO boxes and college dorms are not considered legitimate addresses. Students also run into difficulty when their driver’s licenses do not reflect where they are living at school.

Student voting groups like Rock the Vote and SAVE are focusing on getting students the right information. Rock the Vote has recently introduced a "there’s no place like home" campaign to spread the word to students that their campus is there home too.

The main reason for all the attention: In what could be a very close election, the confusion could cost one of the candidates.

For more information on student voting, visit NP Action's .

Effective Advocacy at All Levels of Government is a publication that was released in May as the result of a partnership between Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The publication is designed to prepare nonprofits for engagement at the state and local levels - where most nonprofits are likely to have the capacity to engage, and the potential to see quicker results - as well as for opportunities at the federal level.

It focuses on three elements to aid nonprofits in their advocacy at all levels of government:

• Generalized processes and principles of how to influence public policy in our federal system of government. By becoming familiar with general practices in policy development, nonprofits can better adapt to the specific ways of a particular jurisdiction's government.
• Guiding questions that will help translate an understanding of general principles into appropriate strategies for specific issues at specific levels of government.
• Case stories that bring key ideas to life and allow nonprofits to imagine themselves in similar situations.

The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation created the publication to help answer the following questions:

• Why should your nonprofit try to change public policy?
• Is it legal for nonprofits to advocate policy change?
• How does the policymaking process work?
• What policy issues should your nonprofit address?
• How can your nonprofit influence public policy?