What the h? The nifty letter that every nonprofit needs to adopt NOW.

For decades I’ve been preaching the gospel of the 501 (h).

But instead of attracting a mega-church size audience, my preaching has looked more like a run-down storefront with cracked windows and a few enthusiastic parishioners.

Well folks, the time has come to embrace the h. That’s because the 501 (h) is a magical one-line form that makes it easier for 501 (c) (3) nonprofit to LEGALLY lobby. (Assuming it’s not revoked soon!).

Yup. You read that right. Lobbying is 100% legal for nonprofits to do!

And if you’re not engaged in lobbying RIGHT NOW, what the heck are you doing?

The folks who are cheering on DOGE, celebrating the dismantling of climate change measures, high-fiving locking up students who were engaged in peaceful protests, cheering the end to vaccine research, calling food stamps, school lunch and breakfast programs wasteful, etc. ARE lobbying.    

I often hear nonprofits say “we’re careful not to lobby, we only advocate” or we “educate” and then they wink at me. They say this because they FALSELY believe charities are legally prohibited from lobbying. 

Some nonprofits WRONGLY believe they can’t lobby if they have a government contract. That’s not true! The rule is you can’t use government funds to lobby (which makes sense).

It makes me mad when nonprofits tell me it’s too expensive to lobby. It AIN’T! (or doesn’t have to be). It can be done on the cheap and still be HUGELY effective.

Just to be clear, Lobbying is attempting to influence legislation by taking a position on it, communicating it to lawmakers, and telling your members and the public to act.

Advocacy is the broader umbrella that involves influencing public opinion and public policy.  For example, MADD has done an amazing job advocating for the term “designated driver” which has become part of our regular vocabulary. They also did amazing work lobbying to establish legal drinking limits in all 50 states (among other laws).

In my next blog I’ll break it down for you in easy-to-understand bite size pieces. If you’re anxious to get started before then, visit my website and watch FREE videos that explain rules and strategies.

If you don’t think you need to engage now, think again. The Associated Press has reported that DOGE contacted the Vera Institute to assign a team to the nonprofit, telling them they planned to install teams at all nonprofits receiving federal funds.

YOU’VE GOT THIS.

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Pat Libby is a change management consultant working principally with nonprofit corporations. She is author of The Empowered Citizens Guide: 10 Steps to Passing a Law that Matters to You, Oxford University Press, The Lobbying Strategy Handbook, second edition, Oxford University Press, and Cases in Nonprofit Management, SAGE. She has served as an academic, senior executive, board member, and consultant to innumerable nonprofit organizations and foundations for more than three decades.

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