Code for America has gotten a number of questions about how Brigades should approach political activism given the current political situation in this country.
The short answer is: People should always do what they feel they need to do to be an actively engaged citizen. The tricky part is what’s advisable to do in the name of your Brigade, which is technically a program of Code for America. As a nonprofit nonpartisan organization, the IRS puts certain rules in place that limit what we can and can’t do. We’ve listed a few below.
To be clear, you can always speak or act on your own behalf, as long as you’re not representing your Brigade or Code for America.
Things that your Brigade can do:
- Publicly comment and educate the general public and elected officials on key issues of importance to your organization.
- Advocate for or against specific public policies by speaking out on decisions made by government agencies, executives, or courts.
- Call, write, and meet with elected officials to support or oppose specific pieces of legislation.
- Sponsor and distribute nonpartisan voter guides.
- Survey candidates and report where they stand on the survey.
Things that Brigades can not do:
- They can not endorse or oppose candidates who are running for public office.
- They can not advise members of your brigade chapter or the public at large, directly or indirectly, to vote for or against specific candidates or political parties.
- They can not make financial contributions to candidates.
- They can not make in-kind contributions (including use of Brigade infrastructure) to political campaigns. (They can’t eat food meant for Brigade actions)
- They can not collect money on behalf of, or provide in-kind services, to a candidate.
- They can not create political action committees.
- They can not distribute or display campaign literature or partisan voter guides.
To reiterate; you can totally do these things personally, as long as you’re not acting as your Brigade or as Code for America when you do so.
When to say yes and when to say no Some good questions to ask when faced with a question about whether to participate:
- Will this move my Brigade’s goals forward?? There’s nothing wrong with going “We’d love to march, but aren't equipped to organize a march. Are you connected with X org?” OR “We can’t lead it, but we’ll let our members know about it.”
- Is my Brigade equipped to respond appropriately? Do you have the resources? Do you and your volunteers have time?
- Is there another organization already doing this work? Can you partner with them or direct your members their way?
- Does this align with my Brigade’s values?
- Every Brigade is different. Your values should reflect your membership. It’s a judgement call that your leadership team has to make.
All systems go?
- Remember to keep your Brigade’s ‘voice’ steady and loud
- When we say voice, we mean the tone and demeanor of your Brigade’s outbound communications. Words matter. Stay Positive: Code for America has always been about taking an active role in government to use our talents in a positive way. We’re for America not against a person who just happens to hold high office.
- This might mean re-wording language for certain calls to action. “Save the data” vs “Stop the deletion of data”
- This will also help to avoid violating our 501(c)3 by not being against any particular candidate.
- Government agencies are our partners
- Remember, there is more than one level of government.
- A fan of your city? Reiterate a desire to help.
- The greatest office in a democracy is that of the citizen.
- People want to be involved; your Brigade gives them one of many paths where they can do that.
- Reiterate your Brigade values early and often
Your Brigade values are what makes you, you. While you may not be able to use the Brigade twitter account to directly lobby - you can use it as an opportunity to say “This is who we are and this is what we value.” You can always switch to your personal accounts when you want to get more partisan or forceful.
What are good actions to take as Brigades?
- Saving open government data to the Internet Archive
- Brigade members have expertise on open data
- It matches your mission
- It’s nonpartisan
- Partner with organizations to elevate voices from the community on various topics that matter to your members, such as encryption, SMS messaging, government 101, or other aspects of governing. Your members may have an interest in learning more about a current newsworthy topic. Invite a speaker to your hacknight to share their knowledge. Being a civic technologists means knowing both sides of the house.
- Keep calm and continue hacking
- Your Brigade already makes your city stronger. You provide a space for people to engage with each other and leverage their technology skills to help their community. Building an app that gives people information about a law or government service.
When you need a different type of superhero Not everyone can be Batman. In fact, everyone trying to be Batman never turns out well. When looking at our current political climate and the challenges facing our cities, it’s obvious that we’re going to need the whole Justice League.
If you get a call to action (or want to take actions) that doesn’t sync up with the Brigade mission here are some places where you can volunteer or refer others too.
- Take off the track jacket and pick up a clipboard
- Yes, you could run for office. We know you love your city and your country. At least consider it.
- Volunteer for a campaign
- Join a politically active meetup
- March and protest
- Call your elected officials
- Contribute and volunteer for nonprofits doing good work
As we get real world examples, we'll add these to the list. As always, if you have any questions please email christopher@codeforamerica.org
The Brigade Team & the National Advisory Council