About Us

The Minnesota Participation Project (MPP), an initiative of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, is an exciting effort to support and expand the capacity of Minnesota nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations to effectively engage in permissible nonpartisan voter engagement efforts—registration, voter education, and voter mobilization activities.

Some would argue that charitable 501(c)(3) organizations are the “sleeping giants” of the democratic process. These community organizations have credibility, trust, and access to potential voters who are often disengaged from the electoral process. As such, they can be the catalyst for a dramatic increase in voter participation through legal, permissible, nonpartisan voter engagement activities-- voter registration, voter education, and voter mobilization.

Goals of the Minnesota Participation Project

• To build and expand capacity within Minnesota’s nonprofit community to integrate nonpartisan civic engagement into their missions and sustain nonpartisan voter engagement activity over the long term.
• To increase voter turnout among populations who have been traditionally underrepresented in the democratic process
• Provide resources and technical assistance to groups already active in voter engagement in Minnesota.
• Build internal capacity to execute voter mobilization programs.
• Encourage new groups to get active in voter engagement and provide them with the tools to execute effective programs.

Components of the Minnesota Participation Project

MPP’s purpose is to support, encourage, and expand the capacity of nonprofit organizations to participate in civic engagement efforts. Rather than offering a single prescriptive method for getting involved in voter engagement, MPP will seek to identify a variety of methods and strategies, offer a range of tools and support, and provide assistance that matches each organizations’ current capacity, whether that involves beginning to explore voter engagement or bringing existing voter engagement to the next level of effectiveness.

We will provide support to nonprofits in the following ways:

Education and Training

• Developing and distributing free, easy-to-understand materials and resources for beginning or expanding voter engagement work, including information on what is legal and permissible for 501 (c)(3) organizations
• Provide training for beginning or expanding civic engagement activities

Coaching

• Proactively working with groups new to voter engagement to help them get started
• Helping active voter engagement projects expand or build to the next level of effectiveness

Organizing

• Developing organizing toolboxes that contain templates and step-by-step guides for implementing various voter engagement activities
• Expanding capacity for organizing support at critical times—leading up to voter mobilization activities

Support with hosting a candidate forum

• Mini-grant program: we’ll provide you with a small sum of money to help defray costs
• Guidance you need to organize a successful candidate event for your community
• Training for how to host a candidate forum and how to be a successful moderator