Nonpartisan Advocacy: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Educate and Advocate During Election Season
August 19 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Virtual Workshop – Live/Online
Fee: Free
Though public charities must remain nonpartisan, they have a critical role to play throughout the election cycle! Not only can public charities engage in issue advocacy during election season, but they can also conduct robust voter and candidate education campaigns and mobilize the public to get out the vote. Foundations can also play an important role in promoting and supporting civic participation. After this session, you will have a better understanding of how to safely engage in nonpartisan advocacy during an election.
Participants will learn:
- How you can continue to advocate for your issues during election years;
- How you can educate the public through candidate forums and questionnaires;
- How you can respond to candidate statements objectively;
- How you can conduct nonpartisan voter registration and ensure get-out-the-vote efforts are conducted legally;
- How you can safely support or oppose ballot measures without being partisan;
- How these rules differ for certain foundation types and how foundations can engage; and
- How staff and volunteers’ partisan activities in their personal time can be kept separate from their activities on behalf of the organization.
This event is facilitated by Bolder Advocacy and is in partnership with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Council on Foundations.
Speaker Information
Brittany Hacker Leonard | Counsel, Bolder Advocacy (a program of Alliance for Justice)
Brittany Leonard serves as Bolder Advocacy Counsel at Alliance for Justice. In this role, she helps nonprofit organizations amplify their voices and pursue their policy goals by educating on the rules that govern advocacy and election-related activities. She is passionate about working with grassroots and under-resourced organizations and helping all nonprofits prepare for politically motivated attacks.
Prior to joining the Alliance for Justice in 2024, Brittany worked in legal services where she represented survivors of domestic violence. She began her career clerking for The Honorable Michael S. Nachmanoff in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Brittany holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, a master’s in Philosophy from Boston University, a Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Boston University, and a B.A. with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia. She is a member of the Bar of D.C. and Virginia.
Tim Mooney | Senior Counsel, Bolder Advocacy (a program of Alliance for Justice)
Tim Mooney is senior counsel with the Bolder Advocacy Program at Alliance for Justice. He provides one-on-one technical assistance for nonprofit advocates, teaches nonprofit and election law workshops and writes on these issues for Bolder Advocacy publications. This is his second tour with Alliance for Justice, having previously served as senior counsel from 2001-2006.
Tim began his legal career as co-founder and counsel for Columbia Riverkeeper, working to protect and restore the largest watershed in the Pacific Northwest. Following his first five years with Alliance for Justice, Tim was senior counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. He spent the next decade as general counsel and director of operations for Tranquil Space yoga studios and later consulted on legal, tech and business operations for entrepreneurs and nonprofits. Tim serves on the board of directors of Pigs & Pugs Project, a charity that supports pig sanctuaries and pug rescue organizations.
Tim earned his B.S. in Environmental Studies from Syracuse University/SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and his J.D. from Pace University School of Law.
Event Details
This virtual event will take place on the Zoom platform.
This session will be recorded. The recording will be made available to registrants after the live event.
Captioning is provided automatically through Zoom. For information on requesting CART, ASL, or another accommodation, please visit our Registration Policies page.
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