Special Issue: Papers from the 2020 and 2021 Nonprofit Public Policy Symposia

In this special issue of Nonprofit Policy Forum, the journal is pleased to present select papers from the 2020 and 2021 Nonprofit Public Policy Symposia. These annual symposia were begun by the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) in 2010 to explore important questions related to public policy affecting nonprofits and philanthropy and to deepen connections among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. In 2019, the organization Independent Sector joined ARNOVA as a symposium sponsor, and, in 2022, NPF was delighted to become an additional sponsor.

The 2020 symposium, which was held virtually in May 2020, focused on three critical issues for nonprofits and philanthropy: COVID-19 response, civic engagement, and philanthropic oversight. In the aftermath of the contentious 2020 elections, the 2021 symposium, which convened virtually in September 2021, also had a focus on nonprofits’ role in encouraging voting and other forms of civic engagement.

This special issue includes six papers from the 2020 and 2021 symposia; an additional paper from the 2020 symposium by Mark Sidel and Ming Hu on civil society and the response to COVID in China was published in NPF’s January 2021 issue. In this issue, Renee Irvin’s paper on “dark money” presents a new index to assess the opaqueness – or transparency – of 501(c)(4), social welfare nonprofits involved in policy advocacy. Margaret Post and Elizabeth Boris also look at 501(c)(4) nonprofits, which have received only modest attention to date from nonprofit scholars, and provide a framework for understanding the subset of this category of organizations that are membership-based and politically active.

Kelly LeRoux, Julie Langer, and Samantha Plotner shift attention to charitable, 501(c)(3) nonprofits and their voter mobilization activity, examining the impact on turnout of the types of messages and methods of message delivery used by these nonprofits. Jaclyn Piatak also focuses on civic engagement by going beyond consideration of economic and demographic factors to consider the role of religious attendance and political interest in influencing volunteering, voting, and blood donation. Yordanos Eyoel’s commentary highlights the promising work of “proximate democracy entrepreneurs,” who have lived experience and deep connection to civically disenfranchised communities, in repairing civic distrust, and calls for increased support for their efforts. Finally, in their research note, Lucy Bernholz, Toussaint Nothias, and Amlie-Sophie Vavrosky urge nonprofits and their stakeholders to pay greater attention to digital policy, which can have important impacts on nonprofits and the people they serve.

We encourage NPF readers to consider submitting papers for and attending the 2023 Nonprofit Public Policy Symposium, which will be held online on September 22, 2023. Detailed information about the 2023 symposium will be available beginning in April on the websites of ARNOVA, Independent Sector, and the Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise at George Mason University, which hosts NPF.