Getting Ready to Engage 
in the 2012 Elections

As the 2012 presidential election fever continues to build, nonprofit human services organizations should take the opportunity to pursue ways to voice priority issues and engage their communities in election-
related activities.

The Alliance for Children and Families’ efforts are focused on developing and promoting a consistent message about priority issues, as well as encouraging involvement. The Alliance’s work began during the fall of 2011, more than one year before Election Day 2012, which is Nov. 6.

In November 2011, the Alliance hosted the teleconference, “Getting Ready for 2012 Elections: Questions for Presidential Candidates.” During the call, Alliance members discussed the importance of involving their organizations and communities in the elections, specifically by preparing to communicate key issues through focused questions designed to determine 
candidates’ positions.

Teleconference participants helped generate a list of questions, which revolve around priority issues, such as children’s health and well-being, quality education, supporting low-income families, providing jobs, preventing abuse and neglect, child welfare funding, and health care.

Bringing Nonprofit Human Service 
Issues and Priorities to the Forefront

The Alliance’s Director of Child Welfare Policy Cecilia Fiermonte says she’s excited about the approaching election season and, along with it, the opportunities to educate the public about child welfare.

“Child welfare is a bit hidden,” she says. “I think this is a great opportunity, through our questions, to educate the public about what we do and who the kids we take care of are. This is an important time for these issues because we’ve been, and will continue to be, talking about federal child welfare finance reform in Washington.”

Bill Gardam, president and CEO of Alliance member Horizons, A Family Service Alliance, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, says there’s an immediate need for political action against the staggering statistics of child poverty, abuse, and neglect.

“Everyone likes the idea of supporting children in our governmental policies, but we need to turn that idea and the strong public compassion for children into political action,” he says. “Too often the well-documented needs of those we serve through our agencies—children, dependent adults, elderly—are crowded out of political debate and the budget process because of stronger competing interests. 
I believe we have an opportunity to enlist the help of residents to ask pertinent questions and to be a strong voice for those we serve.”

Beyond public education activities and asking questions of candidates, 501(c)(3) organizations legally are permitted to engage in a variety of election-related activities, as long as they do not show preference for or against any particular candidate or party.

Linda Nguyen, director of civic engagement at the Alliance, says, “Elections are a great opportunity for organizations to interact with candidates. Although they cannot endorse particular candidates, they can be perfect hosts for candidate forums. When hosting a candidate forum, all candidates need to be invited. Even if not all the candidates attend, the important thing is that no one was excluded intentionally.”

She suggests several activities for becoming involved in the upcoming election season, including encouraging multilingual staff to serve as poll workers on Election Day, helping with voter registration, writing letters to the editors of local publications, 
providing community residents with transportation to polling sites on Election Day, or volunteering to serve as a polling location.

Determining Candidates’ Positions

Nguyen adds that the two strategies she believes will be most effective for becoming aware of candidates’ positions on priority issues are bird-dogging and candidate questioning. To bird-dog means to follow, monitor, and seek out a public official with persistent attention in order to get answers to specific questions. The purpose is to hold them accountable to their answers and ward off any flip-flopping.

According to Gardam, not only does bird-dogging encourage honesty, it also is a way to keep the issues nonprofit human service organizations care most about on the front burner. It has the added effect of building the organization’s reputation as an expert in the field, which increases public awareness of the agency. (Gardam provides more information about what bird-dogging is, how to do it effectively, and 
the benefits it brings to organizations in Bird-Dogging Candidates: Why and How.)

Organizations can take part in bird-dogging by asking repeated questions about priority issues of candidates, their campaign representatives, or their local staff. The questions developed by the Alliance can be used as a starting point.

Gardam says the key to good questioning is consistency and repetitiveness. Don’t ask loaded questions. Instead, be direct and educate the 
candidate briefly about the issue before asking the question. The following question from the Alliance’s list is an example of this educational approach: 
“Nearly 3 million children nationwide are reported abused and neglected each year. What are your plans to keep all children safe from violence in their homes, schools, and communities?”

The preferred format for asking questions of candidates, their campaign representatives, or their local office staff is face-to-face meetings or in public forums, although phone calls or emails also will work.

Once organizations have had the opportunity to ask their questions, the final step is to share what they’ve learned with voters and partner organizations, Nguyen says. This can be accomplished through “report cards” that summarize the positions of all candidates.

Standing Out Among Other Interests

Collaboration with community members, other nonprofit agencies, and the local media can help organizations get their interests to stand out among the many others. Gardam suggests that the organization’s list of questions—whether that’s the list put out by the Alliance or some other variation—be shared with other nonprofit organizations.

“Don’t limit the conversation to only organizations with similar missions,” he adds. “Nonprofits don’t all have the same operating mission or purpose, but they do have that common-good, broad mission. If we can frame our issues and questions in a consistent manner, we all become stronger.”

He also recommends trying to get visibility from the media. “Contact your local news station or newspaper, present the questions to them, and invite them to ask the same questions of candidates.”

Finally, don’t limit the organization’s election-related efforts to one level of government, Gardam advises.

“Even though the presidential campaign is the focus of our discussions right now, the same strategies and discussions should be taking place related to elections at all levels: school board, city, county, state, and congressional. Now is a good time to develop relationships across the board between your agency and your representatives.”

Getting Ready to Engage 
in the 2012 Elections