Should Nonprofit Organizations Play an Active Role in Election Campaigns?
Thursday, August 9, 2007, 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. This Hudson Institute event was held at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel – The Colonial Room (Lower Level) – 1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW – Washington, DC 20036 Event Summary Readers of The Chronicle of Philanthropy in May and June 2007 witnessed a lively discussion unfold on its pages between D.C. Central Kitchen president and author Robert Egger and Georgetown University scholar Pablo Eisenberg. With a view to the next election cycle, Egger argued in a May 31 opinion piece (“Charities Must Challenge Politicians”) that nonprofit organizations deserve the kind of political stature corporations enjoy because like corporations, they employ millions of Americans, command billions of dollars in resources, and thus play a vital economic as well as civic role in their communities. Yet nonprofits face a double standard when it comes to political activity, and they “accept their muzzled role.” Egger concludes that the laws that prohibit charities from
