Effective and Legal Advocacy and Lobbying
In July/August 2019 WSA partnered with the North Carolina, Idaho and California Head Start Association to provide a free webinar is for Head Start/ECEAP and Early Head Start Directors, managers, and other professional staff. Allen Mattison, a lawyer and specialist in nonprofits, reviewed what activities are restricted and allowable, in order to give us confidence to effectively advocate and lobby for our programs.
Topics to be covered include:
- The Policy Ecosystem: Why advocacy and lobbying are fundamental to your success.
- Lobbying 101: What is lobbying, what is allowed, and how to track it.
- Advocacy 101: Using federal funds to tell your story.
- Working Together: Directors, staff, parents and community members.
- Questions and Discussion.
Allen Mattison Biography:
Allen Mattison is a lawyer who represents nonprofit organizations on lobbying, campaign finance laws and tax law. He helps nonprofit leaders understand the line between educational and lobbying activities, to help them stretch their non-lobbying funds to get the greatest advocacy impact possible. That way, nonprofits can save scarce lobbying dollars for when they will have the biggest bang for the buck.
Before becoming a lawyer, Allen worked in political communications, serving as the Sierra Club's national media relations director and in communications roles on campaigns and in the U.S. Senate. These experiences give Allen perspective on the challenges nonprofit managers face in developing programs that maximize their advocacy power within the restrictions imposed on section 501(c)(3) organizations.
JD, Georgetown University Law Center, cum laude
BA, Washington University in St. Louis, with college honors