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ABOUT
MPP
What
is the Minnesota Participation Project?
MPP is an exciting effort to support and expand the capacity
of Minnesota nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations to effectively
engage in permissible nonpartisan voter engagement efforts—registration,
voter education, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities—in
2007 and beyond.
Some would argue that charitable 501(c)(3) organizations are
the “sleeping giants” of the democratic process. These community
organizations have credibility, trust, and access to potential
voters who are often disengaged from the electoral process.
As such, they can be the catalyst for a dramatic increase
in voter participation through legal, permissible, nonpartisan
voter mobilization activities-- voter registration, voter
education, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV).
Goals
of the Minnesota Participation Project
- Facilitate cooperation between
501 (c)(3) groups active in voter mobilization at the city
and state level, and national groups providing funding and
doing mobilization work in Minnesota.
- Provide resources and technical
assistance to groups already active in voter mobilization
in Minnesota.
- Encourage new groups to
get active in voter mobilization and provide them with the
tools to execute effective voter mobilization programs.
- Build internal capacity
to execute voter mobilization programs.
Participating Organizations
MPP is comprised of (c)(3) organizations that meet the following
criteria:
- Committed to engaging in
nonpartisan voter mobilization activities, and
- Committed to working in
a cooperative manner
MPP seeks to continuously expand
participation and include as many interested groups from as
many different nonprofit sectors as possible.
Components of the MPP
Program
MPP’s purpose is to support, encourage, and expand the capacity
of nonprofit organizations to engage in voter mobilization
efforts.
Rather than offering a single
prescriptive method for getting involved in voter mobilization,
MPP will seek to identify a variety of methods and strategies,
offer a range of tools and support, and provide assistance
that matches each organizations’ current capacity, whether
that involves beginning to explore voter mobilization or bringing
existing voter mobilization to the next level of effectiveness.
The support that MPP will provide
includes:
Information Exchange
- Identifying and mapping
existing voter mobilization efforts
- Connecting voter mobilizations
efforts across nonprofit organizations and sectors and seeking
to fill gaps in voter mobilization efforts
- Providing mechanisms for
nonprofits to share ideas and methods for voter mobilization
(such as a listserv, regular updates, and more)
- Communicating information
about voter mobilization efforts across sectors of the nonprofit
community
Education and Training
- Developing and distributing
easy-to-understand materials and resources for beginning
or expanding voter mobilization work, including information
on what is legal and permissible for 501 (c)(3) organizations
- Launching a traveling training
program utilizing teams of voter mobilization experts to
educate groups across the state
Coaching
- Proactively working with
groups new to voter mobilization work to help them get started
- Helping active voter mobilization
projects expand or build to the next level of effectiveness
- Offering clinics that combine
training with customized consulting from experts
Organizing
- Developing organizing toolboxes
that contain templates and step-by-step guides for implementing
various voter mobilization activities
- Organizing candidate forums
across the state
- Expanding capacity for organizing
support at critical times—leading up to GOTV activities
List Enhancement
- Encourage list enhancement
by helping nonprofits to match their organization’s
contact list with a voter file. List enhancement is an important
step in building the capacity of the nonprofit sector to
mobilize traditionally underrepresented populations in the
political process.
GOTV Teams
- Deploying teams of GOTV
experts to help organizations craft GOTV plans based on
their existing resources and voter registration and education
efforts
- Seeking to connect separate
GOTV efforts when possible and sensible
- Share GOTV ideas from other
areas of the state or from other nonprofit sectors
- Providing troubleshooting
and coaching on implementation of GOTV plans
Dos
and Don'ts for 501(c)(3) Organizations
The following information is
a basic overview of what is and is not permissible voter mobilization
activity for 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
Things you
CAN do as a 501(c)(3) organization:
- Voter
Registration
- Drives
must be designed to educate the public about the importance
of voting.
- Activities
cannot be biased for or against any candidate or party.
- Nonprofits
can target areas in nonpartisan ways. For instance,
nonprofits may target low-turnout areas, low-income
populations, minority populations, and students.
- Nonprofits
may target registration and turnout efforts to the areas
or people they serve.
- Voter
Education
- Educate
the public on issues and encourage participation in
the political process.
- Educate
all candidates and political parties on your issues.
- Conduct
or participate in a nonpartisan candidate forum. The
forum must be open to all candidates, be run in a balanced
way, and include a broad range of nonpartisan questions
for the candidates.
- Make
presentations on your organization’s issue to
platform committees, campaign staff, candidates, media,
and the general public.
- Get
Out the Vote (GOTV)
- As
with voter registration, your GOTV drives must be designed
to educate the public about the importance of voting,
cannot be biased for or against any candidate or party,
and may be targeted to underrepresented communities
or those the nonprofit serves.
- Work
on behalf of a ballot measure. Note that this counts
towards your direct lobbying limits.
- Other
permissible activities
- Normal
lobbying on your issues.
- Rent
or sell mailing lists to candidates at fair market value,
if made available to all candidates.
Things
you CANNOT do as a 501(c)(3) organization:
These
restrictions in no way prohibit officers, members, or employees
from participating in a political campaign as private citizens.
- Endorse
or oppose a candidate—implicit or explicit. Contribute
money, time, or facilities to a candidate.
- Coordinate
activities with a candidate.
- Restrict
rental of your mailing list and facilities to certain candidates.
- Set
up, fund, or manage a Political Action Committee (PAC),
established under section 527 of the tax code mainly for
electoral activity.
This information is also available
in PDF format.
Election Cycle Dos and Dont's
for 501(c)(3)s 
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
(Last
updated: September 29, 2008)
Questions? Comments? Contact Maureen Ramirez , maureen@mncn.org
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