Digital Public Policy: New Priorities for Nonprofits

Abstract

For decades, tax policy has shaped the outer boundaries of the policy agenda for the nonprofit sector. In this research note, we argue that the breadth and implications of the sector’s digital dependencies necessitate an expanded policy agenda that includes the regulatory domains defining digital spaces. Digital policy issues matter existentially to the sector writ-large, and thus deserve greater attention from scholars, funders, nonprofit leaders, and policy makers. We make this case by drawing on findings from two recent reports. The first one evaluates awareness of digital policies in the nonprofit sector. The second explores the role of nonprofits on digital policy issues during the first year of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Overall, we highlight the many digital policy issues that matter across the sector, and we underline why opportunities for future advocacy and coalition work are numerous, diverse, and existential.

Keywords

• civil society
• covid-19
• data
• digital policy
• integrated advocacy
• nonprofit sector
• surveillance