Nonprofits and Civic Engagement

There are approximately 1 million nonprofits large enough to register with the federal government. Add churches, foundations, and nonprofits too small to register and the number is more than twice that. For every new business that forms, more than two new nonprofits start up. The potential of nonprofits to engage their clients and members in community affairs and public policymaking is, in theory, enormous. Yet, perversely, nonprofits are regulated by the federal government in such a way so as to discourage the involvement of their followers in the public policymaking process. For example, grassroots campaigns designed to mobilize members or clients to communicate with legislators runs up against restrictions in the law on public charities and, consequently, are utilized by nonprofits only infrequently. This is a problem not simply because we social scientists think civic engagement is a good thing and being a couch potato is a bad thing, but because these regulatory standards sharply skew public participation. While middle and upper class individuals have many organizations that engage them and mobilize them, nonprofits are the onl