Advocacy 101
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About This Document
Advocating is one our community’s most important jobs. Our elected representatives make decisions about conservation that can open huge opportunities — or shut them down. So, land trusts need to be just as good at building relationships with our elected officials as we are at building relationships with major donors and landowners. Here’s some simple rules to keep in mind.
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You can advocate for issues, but not candidates.
As a land trust, you can advocate to build political support for your issues, and you can advocate on legislation and ballot measures, but you cannot endorse or oppose a candidate for office!
During election years, be careful to avoid any appearance that you are taking sides in a campaign for office. A violation could result in serious consequences, like losing your tax-exempt status and your ability to receive tax-deductible donations.
You must abide by the laws of lobbying.
The law sets limits for how much nonprofits can spend on lobbying — and as long as you follow the rules, you can engage in lobbying activities.
Land trusts can choose between using either the IRS’s “Insubstantial Part Test” or “501(H) Expenditure Test” to measure their lobbying.
If you are interested in engaging in lobbying, we strongly recommend you reach out to your legal or tax counsel for guidance.
You can make a difference.
By keeping in mind these simple rules and remembering that many activities that you are already doing don’t count toward the spending limit for lobbying, your land trust can be well prepared to advocate for issues impacting the cause of land conservation.
Additional information on the rules for nonprofit advocacy and lobbying.
