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The Partnership for America’s Children has a long-standing relationship with the Alliance for Justice and its flagship Bolder Advocacy program – designed to ensure that 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations can do their jobs effectively while maintaining compliance with the laws that govern their nonprofit status. In 2026, Bolder Advocacy provided a high-impact three-part learning series for the Partnership’s network members.
If your organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and you are:
- Speaking up for communities historically separated from opportunity;
- Advocating for issues that don’t always align with the federal administration’s priorities;
- Engaging impacted communities in the issues that affect them; or
- Encouraging voter engagement such as voter registration, get out the vote drives, or advocating on ballot measures…
You need these resources.
If you missed any of the jam-packed sessions in this series, don’t worry – all the information is recapped here and ready for you to download and review. Review the resources linked below! Or jump directly to the Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Resource Library to learn more.
Nonpartisan Advocacy in Partisan Times
How 501(c)(3)s can educate and advocate during an election season
Presented by Quyen Tu, Legal Director, Bolder Advocacy
501(c)(3)s can educate and mobilize voters – and you should! Research has shown that nonprofits who participate in the election cycle increase overall voter turnout, and narrow disparities by race, income, and age in voter participation. (Source: Nonprofit Vote 2024 Power Report)
During an election season, 501(c)(3) organizations must be vigilant about compliance – but non-profits can and should engage in a wide range of electoral activities. These include voter education campaigns, get out the vote (GOTV) activities, issue education, and campaigns around ballot initiatives – all permissible activities for 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
In this session, Quyen shared pitfalls to avoid, as well as great examples of compliant, highly-effective nonpartisan advocacy campaigns that engage your community in the election process and the critical issues that are on the ballot.
Preparing for Politically Motivated Attacks
Best Practices for Protecting and Defending Your Nonprofit
Presented by Brittany Hacker Leonard, Counsel, Bolder Advocacy
“Our goal at Bolder Advocacy is to remind you that as long as you are being compliant with the law, you are doing nothing wrong. So often our temptation is to retreat from our great advocacy work.
But if you retreat, then the opposition automatically wins.”
The best practices covered in Bolder Advocacy’s resources are key defense strategies when your organization comes under attack. Brittany Leonard covered the types of attacks that nonprofits are increasingly facing, including:
- Biased, unfounded investigations that are not based on any genuine allegations of wrongdoing;
- Redefining and criminalizing protected activities. This includes misusing the term “illegal” to stop people doing their perfectly legal work out of fear;
- Attempts to freeze work by defunding it, and pressuring funders to avoid certain types of organizations; and
- Attacks by private actors. These often include techniques like fake videos generated using AI.
In this webinar, Brittany covered how to plan for attacks on your organization, and how to prepare your staff members to deal with them. Crucially, to defend against attacks, nonprofit leaders must know the rules that apply to them:
- Stay up to date on the legislation and executive orders affecting nonprofits. State associations of nonprofits are a key resource;
- Review your organization’s compliance with laws and best practices, using tools like the AFJ’s (c)(3) advocacy checkup for nonprofit organizations;
- Use strong record-keeping to ensure good reporting. The Alliance for Justice’s template Keeping Track is an excellent template.
- Communicate with funders and stakeholders about your organization’s activities, how funds are being used, and compliance with the law.
Working Together
Building Nonpartisan Partnerships with 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), unions, and political organizations
Presented by Victor Rivera Labiosa, Senior Counsel, Bolder Advocacy
Collaborating with affiliated organizations can expand your advocacy work for families and children in powerful ways. If your (c)(3) organization partners with labor unions, 501(c)(6)s, (c)(5)’s and trade associations, it’s critical to understand that these different types of organizations don’t all play by the same rules. All joint activity undertaken in such coalitions must fit within the limits of a (c)(3) organization.
Anytime your (c)(3) organization works in coalition, keep in mind that while other organizations may be allowed to undertake partisan activities, a 501(c)(3) organization must remain rigorously nonpartisan in all its activities and expenditures. And while 501(c)(3) organizations have strict caps on lobbying activities, 501 (c)(4) organizations have much greater capacity to lobby.
These restrictions carry into all sorts of activities, from funding that your organization re-grants to partners, to events you co-host, to posts that your organization shares or likes on its official social media accounts.
In this final webinar in the series, Victor covers those bright lines and limitations, and shares practical advice for coalitions, partnership structures, strategies, and record-keeping to ensure compliance and protect your organization’s tax-exempt status while maximizing your impact. He reviews essential tools for collaboration, including cost-sharing agreements, MOUs, and timesheets (samples of all of these are available at the Alliance for Justice website).
Don’t back away from your vital advocacy just because it’s election season!
- Make sure you are in compliance with state laws. Many states have laws that go further than the federal government regarding who can register voters, providing voter assistance, poll watching, and more. To get tailored guidance on lobbying and electoral advocacy in your state, use the Bolder Advocacy Resource Library and filter resources by state.
- Take advantage of Bolder Advocacy’s free technical assistance, the Alliance for Justice Resource Library, and the Bolder Advocacy podcast “Rules of the Game.”
- Support Bolder Advocacy – become a member of the Alliance for Justice!
Many thanks to Victor Rivera Labiosa, Quyen Tu, and Brittany Hacker Leonard of Bolder Advocacy for generously sharing their expertise and insights with the Partnership’s network.
Advocacy Resources
- Alliance for Justice Resource Library
- Alliance for Justice Podcast
- Webinar Slides (available on our Member Resource Hub)