Advancing Nonprofit Influence: The Mediating Role of 501(c)(4) Organizations

• In Event: Does Civil Society Really Serve Democracy?

Abstract

This paper investigates the contributions of politically active 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations to civil society and American democracy. With particular attention to organizational structure and activities, we investigate how these organizations advance pluralism in a representative democracy by fulfilling their member-driven social welfare missions as they influence elections, policy changes, and government activities. As mediators of democracy, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations promote the interests and priorities of their members in the pluralistic give and take of the American political system.

The literature on nonprofit advocacy and civic engagement typically focuses on the activities and outcomes of 501(c)(3) public charities (Suarez 2020; Berry 1999). A critical and missing link in the research on nonprofit political engagement is a conceptual and empirical focus on how the 501(c)(4) organizational form supports and advances the political interests and roles of nonprofits. Particularly important is the role that many of these (c)(4) groups play in community organizing, building social capital and promoting civic engagement in underserved communities (Han 2014; Sirianni 2009; Skocpol 2003).

The 501(c)(4) social welfare tax status offers civil society organizations a wider range of options for engagement in direct political action including partisan politics and nondisclosure of donors (Aprill 2018; Colinvaux 2018; Reid 2006). While the majority of their resources must be directed towards a social welfare mission, these organizations are permitted to engage in unlimited lobbying and advocacy, as well as partisan activities in elections and in support or opposition to legislation and ballot initiatives. 501(c)(4) organizations can also endorse candidates and policy campaigns. Many of the nation’s leading advocates, for example, the AARP, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, and the National Rifle Association, are affiliated with a 501(c)(4) organization that gives them the legal and financial capacity to engage in politics.

What then is the role of politically active, member-based 501(c)(4) organizations in American civil society? How do they fulfill their social welfare missions, engage members in political action beyond the traditional advocacy activities of 501(c)(3) public charities, and advance member interests through political action and policy change efforts?

To address these questions, this paper examines patterns of similarity and difference in the structures and activities of a sample of 500 politically active, member-based (c)(4)organizations, drawn from our analyses of IRS Forms 990 and qualitative analyses of secondary documents, including websites and annual reports.

We use financial and organizational data to compare three categories of variables: 1) advocates by issue area (such as environment, education, and civil rights); 2) structural characteristics including size (income, assets, expenses), geography, membership, related organizations, and organizational leadership, governance, and staffing; and 3) program activities that include issue advocacy and lobbying by paid staff and/or volunteer leaders; partisan issue and candidate education, registration and mobilization, candidate endorsement, support and opposition for ballot initiatives, and litigation. Findings from this study lay the groundwork for understanding the scope and influence of these groups in American politics.


Aprill, E. P. (2018). Examining the Landscape of 501(c)(4) Social Welfare Organizations. N.Y.U. Journal of Legislation & Public Policy. 21(2), 345-412.

Berry, J. Berry, J. (1999) The New Liberalism: The Rising Power of Citizen Groups. Washington DC: Brookings Press.

Colinvaux, R. (2018). “Social Welfare and Political Organizations: Ending the Plague of Inconsistency.” N.Y.U. Journal of Legislation & Public Policy. 21(2): 481-518.

Han, H. (2014). How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press.

Reid, E. (2006). “Nonprofit Advocacy and Political Participation”. In Nonprofits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict. Boris, E. T. and Steuerle, C. E. (Eds). Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.

Sirianni, C. (2009). Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

Skocpol, T. (2003). Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Suarez, D. (2020). “Advocacy, Civic Engagement and Social Change.” The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook. 3rd Ed. Powell, W. and Bromley, P. (Eds). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Authors

• Margaret A. Post, Clark University

• Elizabeth T. Boris, Urban Institute