National Council of Nonprofits - Advocacy

Posted:  May 21, 2012   House Votes to Increase Defense Spending, Forcing More Domestic Cuts On May 18, the House passed a bill to increase defense spending by more than the amount requested for the Department of Defense and $8 billion more than the House agreed to last August as part of the deficit reduction agreement. According to the Washington Post, “House Republicans argued that they had identified non-defense [domestic] spending to offset the increases.” A week earlier, the House passed the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, a bill declaring that previously agreed to automatic spending cuts to defense programs “shall have no force or effect,” thereby shifting cuts to domestic programs. Reuters reports that the largest cuts will hit “food stamps, Medicaid healthcare for the poor, social services block grants that fund various programs including Meals on Wheels for the elderly.” Neither bill is expected to pass in the Senate.   Leaders Stake Positions on Debt Limit, Spending House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) recently reiterated the position that Republicans will not agree to increase federal borrowing authority, known as the “debt limit,” without spending cuts of a greater value. President Obama responded by calling on Congress to pass a “clean” debt-limit increase and asserting that no new deficit reduction agreement will be reached without higher taxes for upper-income taxpayers. Both leaders spoke last week, presumably while looking ahead to the November elections and the post-election traffic jam of legislation. In addition to the debt limit, which will be reached in early 2013, Congress is facing the 2012 expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, estate tax rates, the alternative minimum tax, many other tax provisions, and the automatic across-the-board spending cuts enacted as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011.

read more

Posted:  May 7, 2012 New York Gets Nonprofit Liaison to Help Fix Contracting Flaws   In what is only the second time in U.S. history, a state governor has recognized the essential link between a healthy nonprofit sector and the success of the state by appointing a top-level executive to serve as liaison between government and nonprofit service providers. New York Governor Cuomo named longtime nonprofit leader and capacity builder Fran Barrett to the newly created position of InterAgency Coordinator for Not-for-Profit Services. Barrett will work to reform the state’s procurement and contracting system by improving the way nonprofits and local governments work together as service providers. The post was inspired by a similar cabinet-level position in Connecticut, first created in 2011.   "Fran Barrett is a uniquely qualified veteran with experience in nonprofit management and governance and who knows how to improve the performance of nonprofit organizations,” said Michael Clark, President of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, on whose board Barrett had served. "This is a move in the right direction,” said Doug Sauer, CEO of the New York Council of Nonprofits. "The Governor chose someone who is knowledgeable and experienced, who knows nonprofits and knows the government's funding and contracting systems.”

read more

Posted:  May 3, 2012 Special Edition   Expanding Nonprofit Advocacy to Strengthen Local Communities   We know you receive a lot of email every day, so we don't send out Special Editions unless there are broad implications for the nonprofit sector.   The National Council of Nonprofits, the nation’s largest network of nonprofit organizations, and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI), a recognized leader in nonprofit advocacy training, announced that they have joined forces. CLPI has transferred its nonprofit advocacy training materials and website to the National Council.    When completed, this move will expand the ability of the more than 25,000 nonprofit members of the National Council of Nonprofits’ Network of State Associations of nonprofits, Nonprofit Allies, Nonprofit Affiliates, and State Policy Allies to put CLPI's powerful resources to work in their local communities.

read more