Non-Profit Rights

The relationship between government and its many private partners is complicated and of growing importance. Our society relies on non-profit groups to provide vital services. But for non-profits who also engage in advocacy and other forms of protected free expression, this partnership carries risks. Advocacy groups can, for example, often incite anger and are subject to direct and indirect governmental retaliation. The government can reduce—or terminate—funding, impose onerous restrictions on funding, and may encumber funding with restrictions that control the freedom of grant recipients to use their own funds to speak freely on issues of public importance.

To assist nonprofits whose First Amendment rights are threatened, the Brennan Center works with civil legal aid programs, their clients, and their allies to fight funding restrictions that interfere with advocacy by civil legal aid lawyers on behalf of their clients. We are also challenging a requirement that organizations pledge their opposition to prostitution as a condition for receiving federal funds to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS overseas. In other instances, when the need arises, we provide legal and technical support to initiatives that aim to fix government-imposed restrictions on funding for the arts, libraries, universities, and other non-profits.