Nonprofit Advocacy Day on the Hill

PANO aka Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations held a Nonprofit Advocacy Day on the Hill of April 7, 2010. To start off with I have to apologize to PANO for my tardiness. I am directionally challenged and have never been to the capital. I grew up in suburbia outside Detroit and thought I was a "city girl" until I moved east. Now any city causes me undue stress and I should have known better than to give myself only two hours to reach the Capital.

Anyway, back to the Caucus . . . I arrived as Joe Geiger, Executive Director of PANO was telling us (representatives of nonprofits) how important it was to collaborate and lobby. Think about it, strength is produced in numbers, and if we don't tell our legislators about us, how will they know? Nonprofits are doing the organizations they represent a disservice if they do not build relationships with their legislators.

Building your relationship with your legislator is much like the building of a relationship with a major gift prospect. Stop in their office, send an email, or letter but don't send mass form letter appeals. According to Representative Mario Scavello the form letters can cause the reverse of your desired effect. Mass emails fit in the same category.

Both Representative Scavello and Senator Dinniman spoke briefly on the state of the budget. Don't expect any surprise pots of money from the PA Government. If anything there will be some cuts. In conversations throughout the day, the loss of the proposed tolling of Interstate 80 was a topic of concern. It seemed like some were counting on that money to produce a balanced budget.

After the presentations we were able to meet with legislators and their aids. My appointments were pre-scheduled using a sample letter provided by PANO. Although some of the legislators were not in Harrisburg that day I did end up having a lengthy conversation with one representative and another visited our center before the Nonprofit caucus.

I encourage all PA nonprofits to attend next year's event. And if you live in another state, ask your legislators about their opportunities for nonprofits.

With Pennsylvania'a delay in passing the FY10 budget many of the local non-profits were feeling like sitting ducks waiting to see what would happen with this year's budget. As the President of the local AFP Chapter and with the help of Representative Mario Scavello(R), and our chapter officers we organized a Legislative Forum. I have always felt that knowledge was power and so we went looking for some answers. Below are the 5 tips that highlight what we found out:

1. Invite your local legislators to visit your non-profit. Remember that the legislators "talk up". They will let state and federal congressmen know what your needs are.

2. Use the local newspapers to spread the word. The politicians at your capital do read the papers. So when you speak about your non-profit be sure to speak about your needs.

3. Regarding stimulus money - the dollars are going to larger project ready causes and can be accessed through local economic development groups.

4. NPO are strongly encouraged to collaborate. There is and will continue to be less money to go around so collaborating is more important than ever.

5.Grants need to be accurately and consicely written. This is nothing new but now that there is less money, sloppy work will be dropped to the bottom and may not get a second look.