Data in Context - Now That's Advocacy!
Lots of organizations are surveying nonprofits on what they are experiencing during the pandemic, documenting increasing demand for services, revenue declines, operational disruptions, and more. The data help nonprofit boards and executives see emerging trends, assist policymakers make informed decisions on a wide range of matters, aid grantmakers and donors see the greatest needs, and provide ideas and citations for reporters clamoring to tell the story for the public and all to see. Nonprofit Advocacy Matters has reported many times throughout the health and economic crisis about surveys and investigations by state associations of nonprofits. Today’s installment has a twist – the data in context of the ongoing negotiations over COVID relief legislation, and what’s needed in … Kentucky, home of the Senate Majority Leader.
Last week, the Kentucky Nonprofit Network (KNN) issued a report on Critical Issues Important to Nonprofits Missing in Federal Legislation. It reveals results of a recent survey that quantifies the toll COVID-19 is taking on organizations across Kentucky. Of the nonprofits responding, 57 percent report at least 608,000 Kentuckians are being impacted by their reduction in services. Yet other nonprofits are facing an increased demand with 43 percent of organizations reporting an increase of over 130,000 Kentuckians seeking services. The KNN infographic is a beautiful thing.
What’s particularly timely and useful in this report is how KNN highlights the critical relief needed by Kentucky's nonprofits. The report relates the issues that Kentucky nonprofits themselves identified as most critical to their survival. Ninety-four percent of nonprofits responding to the survey express the need for universal charitable tax deductions. Ninety-three percent see the need for additional funds for state and local governments. On unemployment, 77 percent call for full federal coverage of the costs of benefits charted to self-insured employers and also strongly support extension of unemployment benefits for individuals.
In an ordinary report, data points such as those just listed can be dry and generally meaningless out of context. The KNN infographic puts the views of Kentucky nonprofits squarely in context by breaking down the views as they relate to the leading legislative proposals currently on the bargaining table: the House-passed HEROES Act and the Senate HEALS Act. Kentucky nonprofits see a very high need for improving the Universal Charitable Deduction – but neither the House nor Senate bills include it yet. Funds for state and local governments? The HEROES Act addresses nonprofit concerns, but the Senate bill does not. Fixing unemployment charges against self-insured nonprofits? The Senate bill does better than the House-passed version, but still falls short of what’s needed. And so on with other issues like government contracting flexibility, voting rights and access, rent and mortgage assistance, and forgivable loans for larger nonprofits.
Danielle Clore, CEO of KNN, explains: "The issues facing the very organizations critical to meeting the needs of Kentuckians as we continue to fight COVID-19 must not be overlooked by Congress - it's the difference in nonprofits closing their doors and keeping those doors, even their virtual doors, open to serve us and our neighbors in need."
As we see it, data to have numbers does little, but data put in context is advocacy.
