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Embrace the Mission of Civic Participation Part 2

Writer's picture: Erica McWhorterErica McWhorter

Updated: Jul 5, 2023

Disentangling Civic Participation from Political Discourse and Participation


Methods of civic engagement are highly varied and can relate in multiple ways to your clients, communities, and funders. Understanding how people value and relate to civic engagement offers new ways to describe your mission. It’s time to ignite and harness the power of your stakeholders’ passion for civic engagement to improve their connection to your work and desire to help you achieve your goals.

 

Table of Contents

 

Key Takeaways

  • The IRS does not prohibit nonprofits from engaging in civic participation

  • Civic participation has come to mean many things, including civic engagement

  • Americans tend to associate civic engagement with the same community engagement activities and behaviors CBOs welcome and encourage

 

Overview of Civic Participation as Community Engagement


We have been exploring how civic participation is a fundamental part of any community benefit mission. To embrace your own mission of world, community, or government change, you must first understand how your stakeholders view how that change happens both individually and collectively. There is data to suggest that there is a critical link missing between stakeholder understanding of collective change and the reality of community benefit organization (CBO) activity and strategies to achieve that change. By aligning the stakeholder vision to a clearer more relevant CBO mission, CBOs are better positioned to successfully engage stakeholders as key resources to accomplishing their social change missions.


We explored that in Part 1 of this series. You can find that here.


So now we must address another challenge to community engagement: the CBO perspective.


Creatively messaging CBO missions and goals using civic participation principles allows CBOs to lawfully and effectively bolster civic power. However, most CBOs shy away from this strategy citing legalities, mission creep, and sensitivity. Let’s take another look at civic participation as an impact strategy necessary to achieve maximum community benefit.


Disentangling Civic Participation from Political Discourse and Participation


We’ve heard some of questions and worries before. What about the mandate that 501(c)’s do not engage in political activity? Isn’t this just overstating civic engagement as a strategy or method for community engagement? Are you really advocating for a full communications change based on community perceptions to a single politically fraught concept?


Let’s get clear here and demystify the regulations around activities for most 501(c) entities. The US Department of Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not prohibit engagement in government or political activities. The IRS interprets the regulation found at 26 US Code Section 501(c)3 to mean certain not for profit organizations are restricted in the amount, scope, and type of political and lobbying activity they may conduct. It also specifically prohibits some actions like intervening, participating, or influencing specific campaigns and candidates.[1] This regulation has never meant that CBOs cannot speak to issues related or common to the civic sphere.


In fact, under the regulation nonprofit entities are not prevented from discussing with their communities how to participate in governance. Additionally, nonprofit entities are not barred from advocating for or against issues, so long as that advocacy furthers its mission. To prohibit nonprofit corporations from doing otherwise would violate the Constitution’s First Amendment rights to free speech. (Yes, this is applicable even to nonprofits—but that is a different (legal) story.[2])


Using the nonprofit’s mission to encourage varying methods of civic engagement and connecting those activities to the nonprofit’s goals and ultimate success, is community engagement. In fact, it is exactly what makes community engagement civic engagement. This is well within the scope of permissible CBO activity, just as clearly and appropriately as are voter education campaigns.


So let’s not let assumptions or narrow inferences about civic engagement’s meaning limit our assorted and powerful community engagement strategies.


Broadening Our Perspective


More aptly defining civic engagement as something inclusive of community governance but often separate from it can be helpful here. In the 2022 report of the Civic Language Perceptions Project,[3] instead of defining “civic engagement” for the survey and focus group respondents, the PACE Project allowed respondents to select definitions of what the phrase meant and how respondents participated in those types of activities.


PACE’s 2022 report on Provocations from PACE’s Civic Language Perceptions Project, specifically found a number of common assumptions about civic language terms like “civic engagement” are affirmed in part and complicated in part by the data, and other assumptions present some hard truths.[4] Respondents largely agreed on community fundamentals about civic engagement, such as helping neighbors, giving to charity, and volunteering.[5] However, despite participant responses demonstrating some shared values that can shape the narrative of broader community engagement, some civic language is still not landing.


Acknowledging the complexity of what civic engagement has come to mean or symbolize today, should not limit how we embrace and leverage those concepts to further nonprofit and CBO missions. On the contrary, this data suggests the complexity actually increases the ways CBOs and communities can express shared priorities.


Language use can disconnect these activities and behaviors from stale and rigid ideas of government and, instead, more closely align activities and behaviors to personal choice about how people show up for their neighbors and communities.


This is a boon for all CBOs! Community engagement strategies that directly link personal choice behaviors in the civic arena to CBO missions and activities, can use shared priorities to increase community participation with CBOs.


Up next, we discuss the specifics of turning this knowledge into power by diving into language use as a strategy.

 

Endnotes [1] “The Restriction of Political Campaign Intervention by Section 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Organizations.” Internal Revenue Service, available here. [2] Horowitz, Julie. “The First Amendment, Censorship, and Private Companies: What Does ‘Free Speech’ Really Mean?” Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 15 Mar. 2021, available here. [3] PACE Civic Language Perceptions Project, available here. [4] “Language Memo,” March 2022, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and Citizen Data, available here. [5] “America + Civic Language: Provocations from PACE’s Civic Language Perceptions Project,” October 2022, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, available here.

 

What’s Next

Consider

  • What areas of civic life are important to your CBO’s mission?

  • Where do you wish to see more civic participation that would benefit your CBO’s community and improve the impact of your CBO’s activities?

  • What civic areas has your CBO been reluctant to participate or underinvested out of caution, fear, or strategy?

  • Is there something your CBO should do to move forward in these civic areas alongside the community members you seek to impact?

Stay Tuned

Watch this space for more on this series about how to Embrace the Mission of Civic Participation, including Part 3 on the strategy of language use.

 

Resources to Fill Your Toolbox

Clarification and Rules from the IRS
  1. US Internal Revenue Service Regulations and Limitations on nonprofit political and lobbying activities, available here.

  2. IRS Nonprofit Training on “Political Campaigns and Charities: The Ban on Political Campaign Intervention” Internal Revenue Service, available here.

Explore more on how to use and create civic opportunities for community engagement
  1. Discussion Guide for Exploring Community Engagement, The Building Movement Project, available here.

  2. Community Engagement Strategies Assessment Worksheet, The Building Movement Project, available here.

  3. PACE’s Civic Language Perceptions Project Report with Discussion Questions for the Field on page 18, available here.




This post is part of the series “Embrace the Mission of Civic Participation”. The series was made possible through a mini-grant from PACE. Many thanks to PACE for its support with this project! For more information about the project see the links above or visit the PACE Civic Language Perceptions Project here.



Need help thinking through this idea or bringing social change strategies into your organization? Reach out! I'm happy to explore options with you.



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