National Council of Nonprofits

Our vision is a nation of sustainable, effective nonprofits that serve the public good by enriching communities and the lives of individuals. “Success" requires that charitable nonprofits have timely access to practical information and resources needed to advance their missions; that public policies support rather than injure the work of charitable nonprofits; and that nonprofit staff and board members, donors, and other stakeholders understand and embrace the role of advocacy to advance nonprofit missions.

Our major goals for the next five to ten years include:

• State associations of nonprofits and the larger nonprofit community will have a significantly increased capacity both to defend the sector against public policy threats at the federal, state, and local levels that would undermine the ability of charitable nonprofits to serve the common good, and to advance public policies that support that ability;

• Charitable nonprofits will have an enhanced capacity to meet their missions through increased sustainability, enhanced financial management and governance practices that are ethical, transparent, and accountable, and building their advocacy skills; and

• Increased public awareness about what charitable nonprofits are, what they do, and their vital role in contributing to a thriving culture and a healthy civil society will be measurably improved.

PUBLIC POLICY & ADVOCACY: We help create and protect a supportive policy environment for the work of charitable nonprofits by informing policymakers about proposals (at the local, state, and federal levels and in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches) while simultaneously building nonprofits’ capacity to engage in advocacy through our “applied advocacy” approach: hands-on, real-world opportunities and practice. An example of this “applied advocacy” approach is our ongoing campaign to protect nonprofit nonpartisanship (i.e., the Johnson Amendment), in which we have trained, coached, and encouraged hundreds of leaders and coordinated thousands of participating organizations.

We also work with our network to create a “Defensive Shield,” protecting the 501(c)(3) community (charities and foundations) against pandemic policy threats (such as the threat to the Johnson Amendment that protects nonpartisanship) that, like an Ebola breakout, transcend the usual response systems and, while rare, seem to erupt each year and may last more than a year.

REFRAMING PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS & KNOWLEDGE: We inform public discourse about how nonprofits contribute to a thriving culture and a healthy civil society by identifying, articulating, and sharing key messages through the Council of Nonprofits’ networks, our multiple direct audiences, our media contacts, and other means.

SUPPORT FOR NETWORK CAPACITY: We convene, coordinate, and provide state associations with the information and resources they need to strengthen their own capacities and to build the capacity of the nonprofits they serve. Currently, our highest-priority focus is on strengthening capacities to engage in policy; promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; and leadership development.

ADVANCING THE CAPACITY OF CHARITABLE NONPROFITS TO SERVE THE COMMON GOOD: We create and share resources that strengthen the capacities of individual nonprofits and raise awareness about sector-wide issues impacting sustainability and mission effectiveness. A few examples include our highly-viewed articles and web pages on “Board Roles and Responsibilities” and “Strategic Planning for Nonprofits,” and popular resources on timely issues such as “Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” and “Sexual Harassment in the Nonprofit Workplace.” We offer public webinars on breaking policy matters such one we offered in January 2018 on the 2017 federal tax law (attended live by more than 4,000 sites and viewed more than 12,000 additional times since). We’ve prepared materials to help nonprofits understand and apply the new U.S. Department of Labor overtime regulations released in September, 2019; more than 1,800 people registered for our webinar on the subject in early November 2019, which featured experts from the Department of Labor, the National Employment Law Project, and Venable Law Firm, to help nonprofits understand how the new regulations apply to them as employers and help them comply.

Our network covers the full spectrum of nonprofit missions, sizes, and geographical locations. Our unique structure provides us with access to real-time knowledge and information occurring “on the ground,” including the real-world challenges nonprofits face every day, giving us insight and data that are unparalleled in the sector.

Our staff experts, who are seasoned professionals in nonprofit operations, advocacy, and law, analyze that exclusive blend of insight and data from the field and deploy it in a variety of ways, from sharing capacity-building knowledge with grassroots nonprofits to advocating at all levels of government. Others have recently recognized our staff’s expertise: Rick Cohen, Chief Communications Officer/Chief Operating Officer, was recognized as one of five Rising Star honorees at the 2018 Nonprofit CFO of the Year Awards. In September of 2019, VP of Public Policy David Thompson and President & CEO Tim Delaney were both honored as “NPT Power & Influence Top 50” by the Nonprofit Times, a rare exception as the publication has not recognized two staff members from the same organization in at least a decade.

Our organization is unique because of, among other things, our one-of-a-kind nationwide grassroots network, our focus on serving the 97 percent of America’s nonprofits that are small and midsized community-based organizations, and our staff’s expertise and action-oriented mindset.

We are unique as the only nonprofit infrastructure group doing policy advocacy on an integrated basis, both vertically (local, state, and federal) and horizontally (legislative, executive, judicial) to identify, track, and act on policy challenges and opportunities at all levels. It’s our unique network that allows us to do that powerfully and successfully.

Our Team works not only with our formal members, but also with numerous colleague organizations, to develop the advocacy acumen, communications confidence, leadership skills, and operational capacity of individuals serving the nonprofit community. We collaborate closely with trusted partners such as BoardSource, United Way Worldwide, YMCA of the USA, YWCA USA, and many others, multiplying our impact and assisting those who seek our help. We promote civic engagement and democracy by participating actively in the nonpartisan National Voter Registration Day and nonpartisan Nonprofit VOTE (for which we host national meetings and serve on the National Leadership Council). This past year, we forged even deeper connections with the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Freedom and the National Association of State Charity Officials through multiple joint activities – most especially, protecting the Johnson Amendment.

We’re not a think tank or a trade association that just talks about what needs to be done: we do it. We focus on action, leading to outcomes that demonstrably improve the operating and policy environment on which all 501(c)(3) organizations rely. Here are some recent examples:

We led the sector’s defense of the Johnson Amendment (which protects charitable, religious, and philanthropic organizations from the rancor of partisan politics), rejecting multiple efforts by the President, Vice President, powerful members of Congress, and monied special interests to eviscerate it. As part of our multi-faceted strategy, we created a central platform for other national infrastructure groups and thousands of nonprofits, crafted templates used by nonprofits and foundations across the country to communicate with their elected federal officials and local media, and marshaled national media coverage that highlighted the danger of nonprofits being dragged down into the rancor of divisive partisanship. For three years, we’ve collectively prevailed.

We helped preserve more than $1 billion in charitable contributions for local communities by coordinating strategies and tactics to defeat attempts by multiple states to repeal or cap charitable giving tax incentives. Recently, we helped enact and advance new legislation in several states that creates new state charitable giving incentives.

We successfully negotiated to require that governments using federal funds to hire nonprofits must reimburse indirect costs. The nonprofit sector earns 1/3 of its entire revenue by performing government contracts. This new mandate, once fully implemented, will yield billions to nonprofits for work they have been performing but not been paid for.

We mobilized nonprofits across the country to challenge the new 21% tax on nonprofit benefits. Our in-house experts gathered data from the field, analyzed the effects of the 2017 federal tax law, developed the legal and advocacy framing for the sector’s challenge, submitted detailed Comments to the IRS, Treasury Department, and Congress, and spread word throughout the sector to work towards a full repeal.

We successfully led the sector’s opposition to a proposed IRS rule that nonprofits collect, report, and maintain the Social Security numbers of every individual donor, which would have substantially decreased charitable giving and imposed enormous liabilities on nonprofits by increasing donors’ exposure to identity theft.

We led the sector’s multiyear efforts to ensure nonprofit employees are paid fairly by analyzing the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed changes to overtime rules, framing the issues, submitting comments and testimony, engaging with federal officials, and educating nonprofits on compliance.

Some of these issues have been resolved; many are ongoing. For more detailed discussion of our public policy priorities, visit https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/public-policy-agenda.