Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1526507
61 Chapter 5: Advocacy Advocacy e IRS considers legislative activities, also known as "lobbying," to be activities that further social welfare purposes, and a 501(c)(4) organization may engage in unlimited lobbying related to the orga- nization's purpose. In contrast, a 501(c) (3) public charity is allowed to lobby, but lobbying can only make up a small portion of the organization's activities, and the legislation in question must be relevant to the nonprofit's charitable goals. A 501(c)(3) private foundation cannot lobby. When e Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts was created from the sale of Central Massachusetts Health Care, it was able to retain the health plan's IRS tax sta- tus as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organiza- tion, thereby retaining the unique capacity to lobby. Lobbying and advocacy have been criti- cal ingredients for e Health Foundation's recipe for success with its initiatives, with the emphasis placed on advocacy. Advo- cacy has helped ensure that the strategies that are piloted, evaluated, refined, and implemented through grants can then be sustained longer-term through policy or systems changes. In contrast, under a more traditional model of grantmaking used by many other funders, grant-funded initiatives may struggle to continue and sometimes cease to exist aer time-limited philanthropic support ends. Beyond incorporating advocacy into its multi-year Synergy Initiative projects, e Health Foundation has also engaged in advocacy to support community-driven ef- forts to seek public policy changes aimed at improving health, broadly defined. Several examples are highlighted in the pages that follow. n Based on Grantmakers In Health's 2021 review of health conversion foundations, of the 303 health conversion foundations included in the study, 51% are structured as public charities, 46% as private foundations, and only 3% as social welfare organizations with the 501(c)(4) IRS tax-exempt status. A social welfare organization must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, meaning that the organization's purposes must be intended to benefit a community or the public at large. advocacy noun the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal - Merriam-Webster dictionary Dr. Amie Shei and Ann Lisi, former president and CEO of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation "When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something." Congressman John Lewis, civil rights leader