{"podcast":{"title":"Rules of the Game: The Bolder Advocacy Podcast","slug":"rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868","podcast_index_feed_id":744868,"rss_url":"https://rulesofthegame.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://afj.org/podcast","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/3/1/a/e/31ae8c4533ab742d/RoTG.png","author":"Alliance for Justice","episode_count":100,"summary":"Nonprofits are important advocates on issues critical to every community, but sometimes the rules and regulations of advocacy can be barriers to entry. In Rules of the Game, Bolder Advocacy attorneys at Alliance for Justice use real examples to demystify these laws to help 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits be bolder advocates, whether holding elected officials accountable, educating candidates, engaging voters, or lobbying for policy change. Entertaining legal education, not legal advice!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-08T22:20:06.614648+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868"},"episode":{"title":"Public Charities Can Lobby!","slug":"public-charities-can-lobby","published_at":"2026-01-21T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868/public-charities-can-lobby","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868","url":"https://rulesofthegame.libsyn.com/public-charities-can-lobby","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/rulesofthegame/ROTG149-lobbying.mp3?dest-id=2280527","summary":"On this episode , we're going back-to-basics to discuss the rules that apply when nonprofits engage in lobbying activities. With legislative sessions ramping-up in several states, it's important to take time to understand the lobbying limits and definitions that apply to your organization's advocacy. But, it's even more important to recognize that public charities can lobby and advocate for or against legislation at the local, state, and federal levels. So , rally your staff and volunteers, and speak up, because your nonprofit can play an important role in impacting public policy. Attorneys for this Episode Brittany Leonard Tim Mooney Natalie Roetzel Ossenfort The Importance of Lobbying Big business often pays for expensive lobbyists to represent their interest s in front of legislators , but normal community members cannot foot that bill. Nonprofits who lobby can step up and fill th e void. 501(c)(3) public charities can use their experience, funding, and passion for their mission to represent communities by advocating for or against changes to law. For example, M ovement Advancement Project tracked the 2025 spring legislative session and found that every state except for Vermont had an anti-LGBTQ bill proposed but 88% of them did not become law. This was due in part to great nonprofits lobbying against these bills. How Much Lobbying Can Public Charities Do? Internal Revenue Code provides two ways for public charities to measure their lobbying limits Default , Insubstantial Part Test: Public charities can lobby so long as lobbying is an \"insubstantial part\" of their overall activities (around 3-5% of total activities). Activities based test, not dollar-based Broad definitions of lobbying 501(h) Expenditure Test : Most public charities can opt in to using this test to…","meta_description":"On this episode , we're going back-to-basics to discuss the rules that apply when nonprofits engage in lobbying activities. With legislative sessions ramp…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1054,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868/episodes/public-charities-can-lobby/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rules-of-the-game-the-bolder-advocacy-podcast-744868/public-charities-can-lobby.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}