Many organizations involve volunteer activists to promote their agencies and various causes, on and offline. However, before you mobilize online volunteer activists -- to send e-mails to individuals, companies or online discussion groups on behalf of your organization, to create a Web-based petition, and so forth -- plan strategically to make your efforts successful and positive.
First, make sure that your organization is ready to involve volunteers virtually and that your agency has set the internal groundwork for staff buy-in and quality control.
Your organization also needs to know what activities staff and volunteers can engage in legally regarding lobbying, advocacy, and other public policy activities. The following resources may be helpful:
Lobbying and Political Activity by Tax-Exempt Organizations
by the The Online Compendium of Federal and State Regulations for U.S. Nonprofit Organizations. It is an excellent, detailed guide, and links to even more information from other sources.
Let America Speak
a coalition project co-chaired by the Alliance for Justice, Independent Sector, and OMB Watch. This web site contains information and background about nonprofit advocacy and provides updates about legislation and other activities that could affect the advocacy rights of the nation's nonprofits.
Rather than duplicate the excellent information already on the Web for organizations that want to involve online volunteer activists, we are providing the following links for use along with our suggestions for managing volunteers virtually. These Web sites include real-life examples, tips on how to mobilize online activists and cautionary tales regarding online activism:
NetAction
A project of The Tides Center. NetAction is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting effective grassroots citizen action campaigns by creating coalitions that link activists using the Internet with grassroots organizations, and educating the public, policy makers, and the media about technology-based social and political issues. NetAction has lots of great advice for organizations looking into mobilizing activism via the Internet, including accounts of what's worked and what hasn't for various agencies. The site includes "The Virtual Activist," a comprehensive training course on cyber-activism to assist activists who want to use technology effectively for grassroots organizing, outreach, and advocacy. Information from NetAction regarding online activism is also featured in articles for Mother Jones Magazine:
EFF Activism and Government Archive
The Electronic Frontier Foundation provides a long list of links to examples and articles how citizens can pursue Net grassroots political activism.
What's Working: Advocacy on the 'Net
A list by the Benton Foundation of nonprofit advocacy organizations that make particularly good use of the Internet in their activities. Includes a summary of each organization's online efforts and a link to the organization's Web site.
20/20 Vision
Includes "Using Cyberspace: Activism Online."
An Activists' Strategy for Using Email and the World Wide Web
By One Northwest, an organization that helps environmental organizations in the northwest.
Alliance for Justice
This national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations offer updates on new federal laws and what they mean for nonprofits who want to engage in lobbying and advocacy (such as their Guide to the Lobbying Disclosure Act), reviews of basic tax and election laws which govern nonprofits and reviews of the right (and wrong) ways to organize specific voter education activities (voter registration, candidate questionnaires, voter guides, and candidate debates and forums), the legal do's and don'ts of participating in ballot initiative campaigns, a report that dispels the myths associated with funding advocacy organizations and offers a full range of advocacy activities that foundations can support, and a review of the regulation of advocacy activities of nonprofits that receive federal grants.