Lobbying and advocacy for the public's health: What are the limits for nonprofit organizations?
J.S. Vernick
American Journal of Public Health, 1999, vol. 89, issue 9, 1425-1429
Abstract:
Nonprofit organizations play an important role in advocating for the public's health in the United States. This article describes the rules under US law for lobbying by nonprofit organizations. The 2 most common kinds of nonprofits working to improve the public's health are 'public charities' and 'social welfare organizations.' Although social welfare organizations may engage in relatively unlimited lobbying, public charities may not engage in 'substantial' lobbying. Lobbying is divided into 2 main categories. Direct lobbying refers to communications with lawmakers that take a position on specific legislation, and grassroots lobbying includes attempts to persuade members of the general public to take action regarding legislation. Even public charities may engage in some direct lobbying and a smaller amount of grassroots lobbying. Much public health advocacy, however, is not lobbying, since there are several important exceptions to the lobbying rules. These exceptions include 'nonpartisan analysis, study, or research' and discussions of broad social problems. Lobbying with federal or earmarked foundation funds is generally prohibited.
Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)
There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1999:89:9:1425-1429_6
Access Statistics for this article
American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia
More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().