For the past couple weeks, we have been going “back to school” in all things social media for social good … and now it’s about to get legal. Now if you’re like me, the sound of anything mentioning laws and regulations makes me immediately tense up and I just automatically assume it will go right over my head. But we wouldn’t do that to you on a Friday! The reality is that if you are a nonprofit advocating for a cause online, you need to know the rules. Fortunately, our friends at Alliance for Justice have broken it down for us in layman’s terms.
Alliance for Justice released Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities to help the nonprofit community better understand the legal landscape of advocacy in the modern online world.
This resource is available as a free download, and is designed to translate laws and regulations into approachable and applicable guidance for nonprofits hoping to engage in effective online communication and advocacy.
Rules and regulations governing permissible activities for 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s, and 527s often do not explicitly categorize online actions as either permitted or prohibited, leaving many nonprofits to rely on sheer guesswork when communicating online.
This resource contains guidance for nonprofits as they deal with websites, email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other online avenues that didn’t exist when many of the relevant rules and regulations were written.
This guide was designed to answer questions such as:
- May a c3 and a c4 share a website?
- Do the IRS and FEC rules apply to social networking sites?
- May a 501(c)(3) let a 501(c)4 or a candidate use its email list?
- May we talk about candidates in tweets, texts, and status updates?
Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities is available as a PDF from the Alliance for Justice website: http://bolderadvocacy.org/
The “Back to School Yourself in Social Good” series will share the basics, the strategies, the experts and – yes — even homework, on how you can better use social media for social good. We’ll be covering topics like cause marketing, corporate responsibility and leading trends in online fundraising.
