Most non-profits are classified by the IRS as 501(c)(3) organizations. Contributions to these organization are tax deductible and support a wide variety of services from direct aid like providing food and clothing to the impoverished to educating the public about the needs of the organizations’ target market. Since donations to these organizations are tax deductible, charitable foundations often only fund 501(c)(3) organizations.
Other non-profits are classified by the IRS as 501(c)(4) organizations. These organizations are free to directly lobby politicians and engage in political campaigns to support or fight against particular candidates or causes. This freedom to lobby comes at a cost, however. Donations to 501(c)(4) organizations are not tax deductible; consequently, most foundations exclude them from consideration when choosing organizations to fund.
To qualify for tax deductible donations, many organizations like RESULTS have split themselves into two entities: a 501(c)(3) and a 501(c)(4). The RESULTS Educational Fund (REF) is the 501(c)(3) entity and “gives us the power and the resources to educate and inspire members of Congress and their staff, movers and shakers in the media, and communities about the most pressing issues concerning hunger and poverty.” RESULTS is the 501(c)(4) and “leverages your investment by mobilizing more money and better policies to pave clear pathways out of poverty.” RESULTS staff have to carefully track their time so when they’re are the phone educating volunteers about issues or doing research, that time can be billed to REF. When they’re meeting with members of Congress or their staffs, and lobbying them to support a particular bill that time gets billed to RESULTS .
Most of the money that RESULTS uses for lobbying is generated by the RESULTS volunteers themselves, either through direct contributions as my wife and I had done for years or by asking family, friends, and acquaintances to contribute through some kind of fund-raising campaign.
A couple months ago, my wife and I looked at our finances and painfully realized we had to reduce our expenses even more than we had when I first became unemployed. We had already cut our RESULTS donation from $100 a month to $50 a month. A couple months ago, we decided to stop the monthly giving entirely. That was a painful decision, for me particularly. I felt like I was personally failing RESULTS by not being able to contribute on a monthly basis. I consoled myself that I would again ask my friends and family to contribute as part of RESULTS’ annual year-end fund raising effort.
In an effort to bring home more income, I applied for a part-time job at the Fund for the Public Interest as a canvasser raising money for Environment California, a pro-environment organization that lobbies California state government. This introduced me to a significantly different development strategy from what I am used to as a RESULTS volunteer. Instead of volunteers at Environment California raising money for the organization, Environment California hired the Fund for Public Interest to pay canvassers to talk to people in front of stores and go door-to-door in neighborhoods asking people to contribute to Environment California.
For the door-to-door canvassing job, I had to learn as verbatim as I could a main script and responses, that totaled about 250 words, to various statements and questions from the prospective donor. I remembered my college acting class and tried to learn the lines so well they sounded natural rather than rehearsed. To its credit, the Fund for Public Interest scripts were very well written and were vetted by lawyers and by Environment California.
Another difference between RESULTS and Environment California is the role of volunteers. From what I can tell, Environment California consists of a paid staff that do the majority of the lobbying, research, education, networking, etc. and volunteers who get e-mails or phone calls urging them to contact their legislators and urge support for particular bills.
In RESULTS, it’s the volunteers who do most of the lobbying, meeting with their legislators to educate them about issues, fund raising, work with the media, and organize public events. Consequently, RESULTS volunteers who become core members, called “partners”, commit to a deeper level of involvement than simply forwarding a prewritten e-mail or calling a legislative office and reading a short script. In RESULTS the emphasis is on volunteers gaining extensive knowledge of the issues, building relationships with their legislative representatives, the staff of those representatives, editorial boards, community leaders, and learning fundraising skills.
As for my canvassing job–it quickly came to an end. To maintain the job I had to get at least $125 in contributions on one of my first three nights. My best night was only $105, so I was let go. I did get paid for my work, but it was only minimum wage. I’m glad I took the job, though. It was a good experience, I met some good people, learned some things, expanded my comfort zone a bit, and was able to help fund an environmental lobbying organization working for some worthy goals.
I keep wondering, however, if Environment California would have greater success if they followed RESULTS’ model of using volunteers. I think of the words of Representative James Walsh (R-NY):