Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature
Research has long established nonprofit organizations’ vital role advocating for the needs of vulnerable populations before legislative policymakers. In the best of times, it is difficult for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits employing grassroots advocacy to mobilize vulnerable constituencies to compe...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Nonprofit Policy Forum |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0016 |
| _version_ | 1811289379492069376 |
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| author | Riegel Stephanie M. Mumford Steven W. |
| author_facet | Riegel Stephanie M. Mumford Steven W. |
| author_sort | Riegel Stephanie M. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research has long established nonprofit organizations’ vital role advocating for the needs of vulnerable populations before legislative policymakers. In the best of times, it is difficult for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits employing grassroots advocacy to mobilize vulnerable constituencies to compete with 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) advocacy and special interest groups. The latter organizations inherently have greater flexibility and resources to lobby lawmakers directly, permitting greater access to influencing the policy agenda. Through a multi-method case study of the 2020 regular session of the Louisiana State Legislature, this article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic’s unique contextual conditions made legislative advocacy more difficult than usual for charitable nonprofits promoting a progressive policy response to the pandemic within a politically conservative state. Conducted through interviews with nonprofit leaders and an analysis of legislative records and committee hearings, the case study reveals specific barriers that hampered charitable nonprofits’ access to the legislative process, including physical capacity restrictions and health concerns, as well as issues with virtual legislative protocols and conservative committee chairs’ discretion to ignore remote testimony. The article analyzes how these barriers negatively impacted charitable nonprofits’ ability to advocate for vulnerable populations and explores potential implications for equitable political participation and response to the pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:53:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e7b3f7556bb0459c928ecce1c3f8e82f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2154-3348 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:53:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nonprofit Policy Forum |
| spelling | doaj.art-e7b3f7556bb0459c928ecce1c3f8e82f2022-12-22T03:03:42ZengDe GruyterNonprofit Policy Forum2154-33482022-01-011329111810.1515/npf-2021-0016Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State LegislatureRiegel Stephanie M.0Mumford Steven W.1Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USADepartment of Political Science, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USAResearch has long established nonprofit organizations’ vital role advocating for the needs of vulnerable populations before legislative policymakers. In the best of times, it is difficult for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits employing grassroots advocacy to mobilize vulnerable constituencies to compete with 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) advocacy and special interest groups. The latter organizations inherently have greater flexibility and resources to lobby lawmakers directly, permitting greater access to influencing the policy agenda. Through a multi-method case study of the 2020 regular session of the Louisiana State Legislature, this article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic’s unique contextual conditions made legislative advocacy more difficult than usual for charitable nonprofits promoting a progressive policy response to the pandemic within a politically conservative state. Conducted through interviews with nonprofit leaders and an analysis of legislative records and committee hearings, the case study reveals specific barriers that hampered charitable nonprofits’ access to the legislative process, including physical capacity restrictions and health concerns, as well as issues with virtual legislative protocols and conservative committee chairs’ discretion to ignore remote testimony. The article analyzes how these barriers negatively impacted charitable nonprofits’ ability to advocate for vulnerable populations and explores potential implications for equitable political participation and response to the pandemic.https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0016accessadvocacypandemiccharitable nonprofitsinterest groupsequity |
| spellingShingle | Riegel Stephanie M. Mumford Steven W. Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature Nonprofit Policy Forum access advocacy pandemic charitable nonprofits interest groups equity |
| title | Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature |
| title_full | Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature |
| title_fullStr | Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature |
| title_short | Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature |
| title_sort | barriers to charitable nonprofit access and advocacy amid a pandemic a case study of the louisiana state legislature |
| topic | access advocacy pandemic charitable nonprofits interest groups equity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0016 |
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