The members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition play a pivotal role in encouraging citizens throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed to vote. Below, find tools and resources to educate, inspire, and equip your organization to actively engage your members in the electoral process.

Are you interested in learning more about how your organization can raise its voice to vote for clean water? Let us know by joining our Vote for Clean Water Cohort!

Civic Engagement Toolkit

It’s challenging to know where to start to get your organization involved in critical civic engagement efforts. To help, the Choose Clean Water Coalition teamed up with the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed to launch a comprehensive toolkit. This contains voting deadlines, suggested social media posts, graphics, example emails, and more. Use this toolkit or come up with your own language to ask your supporters to check their voter registration status, send them information on vote-by-mail, or even simply remind them of voter registration deadlines. When you send out your email or post, make sure to use the hashtag #VoteForCleanWater!

Webinars

Civic Engagement in the Chesapeake 🗳️

Our learning on civic engagement continued as we heard from an expert panel on the important role 501(c)(3) organizations play in elections, how nonprofits throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed can get involved, and practical examples of ways other members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition have participated in this space. The panel includes:

• Mary Rafferty, Virginia Conservation Network

• Irene Shin, Virginia Civic Engagement Table

• Kate Wofford, Alliance for the Shenandoah

• Tim Mooney, Alliance for Justice

Civic Engagement and Elections as a 501(c)(3)

Election years provide a great opportunity for public charities to highlight issues and interact with candidates and the voting public. While there are restrictions on public charities, 501(c)(3) organizations can engage in a wide array of nonpartisan activity that continues their issue advocacy, protects voting rights, educates voters, and encourages them to exercise their right to vote.

In this webinar, Tim Mooney of the Alliance for Justice discusses:

• How you can continue to advocate for your issues during election years

• How you can educate the public through candidate forums and questionnaires

• How you can conduct nonpartisan voter registration and ensure get-out-the-vote efforts are conducted legally

• How you can safely support or oppose ballot measures without being partisan

• How staff and volunteers’ partisan activities in their personal time can be kept separate from their activities on behalf of the organization.

External Resources

• Election Do’s and Don’ts for Nonprofit 501(c)(3) Organizations (Afterschool Alliance)

• Postage for Absentee Ballots/Vote by Mail (USPS)

• Update Voter Registration Address (MYMOVE/USPS)

• Alliance for Justice webpages

  • Elections

    • Want to Conduct or Fund a Voter Registration Drive?

    • Praising and Criticizing Incumbents

    • Candidate Do’s and Don’ts

    • Nonpartisan Candidate Education: How 501(c)(3)s Can Talk to Candidates During an Election Year

    • Election Checklist for 501(c)(3) Public Charities: Ensuring Election Year Advocacy Efforts Remain Nonpartisan

    • Check the Chart: Is This 501(c)(3) Compliant?

    • The Rules of the Game: A Guide to Election-Related Activities for 501(c)(3) Organizations

    • Commenting on Candidates and Campaigns How 501(c)(3)s Can Respond During an Election Year

    • 501(c)(3) Organizations and National Party Conventions

    • Setting the Record Straight: How Your 501(c)(3) Can Distribute Voting Records or Legislative Scorecards

    • Ballot Measures and Public Charities: Yes, You Can Influence That Vote

    • Transition to Power: Influencing a Presidential or Gubernatorial Transition Team

    • Hosting Candidates:

      • Hosting Candidates at Charitable Events: Ensuring Candidate Appearances Remain Nonpartisan

      • Hosting Candidate Debates: Public Charities Can Educate the Community Through Candidate Debates

  • Advocacy/Lobbying

    • Accountability Advocacy for 501(c)(3)s

    • How to Create a 501(c)(3) Advocacy Plan

    • Lobbying Flowchart

    • Amplify Your Voice: Lobbying Do’s and Don’ts

    • Being a Player: A Guide to the IRS Lobbying Regulations for Advocacy Charities

    • Public Charities Can Lobby: Guidelines for 501(c)(3) Public Charities

    • When Does Your Activity Become Lobbying?

    • Worry-Free Lobbying for Nonprofits

    • Legal Tips on Using Social Media for Advocacy

    • Nonprofits Can Influence the Budget Process

    • Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law on Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities

  • Census

    • How Nonprofits Can Ensure an Accurate Census Count

    • Census Advocacy: What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know

The Choose Clean Water Coalition is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, not-for-profit, charitable organization. As such we may not, and we do not coordinate with, support, or oppose any candidates for public office or political party.