From Mission to Electoral Strategy

This chapter operationalizes the grounded theoretical model discussed in the previous chapter with an empirical measurement of the various factors it focuses on. It explains the survey methodology used to field a questionnaire to eleven hundred nonprofit organizations in the six states, then analyzes the data collected from survey respondents with a particular focus on the first part of the theory of immigrant-serving nonprofit engagement. The evidence shows that aspects of mission, organizational resources, and policy relate to which electoral tactics an immigrant-serving nonprofit makes use of. Most significantly, the new law to tighten voting procedures in Florida reduced the likelihood that organizations in that state held voter registration drives.

Foundations and Funding

This chapter places immigrant organizations into the complex, quasi-federated web of funding and grants. Immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations work at the grass roots, providing direct services to individuals. Operating high above are multibillion-dollar private philanthropic foundations that have for over a century been interested in how the country has assimilated immigrants. Since the early 2000s, major foundations have moved immigrant and voting issues to the top of their agendas and provided millions of dollars of grant funding to organizations connected with or serving the interests of immigrants. At the same time, other foundations have supported policy to restrict voting rights and advocate a very different view of immigration reform. The chapter describes these two competing political trends and also asks theoretical questions about what these spikes in funding mean for the autonomous identity of nonprofits and the representation of immigrants.

Political Variety and Electoral Efficacy of Immigrant Nonprofit Organizations

This introductory chapter sets out the objectives of this book as well as the theoretical approach it undertakes. Against the backdrop of the 2012 U.S. elections, the press and political pundits were right to frame the reelection of Barack Obama as president as a harbinger of the growing power of Hispanic and Asian American voters, but the media often overlook the variety of immigrant nonprofit organizations that have been working hard to energize these voters for decades. The chapter places the focus on these organizations as it lays down the key questions, scope, and methodology for this research. It also introduces two key case studies—Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) and New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE)—both of which demonstrate some of the diverse ways immigrants receive services, representation, and collectively express a political identity.

Boldly Representing Immigrants in Tough Times

This concluding chapter circles back to the political sphere and examines what actually happened on Election Day. It looks at how first-and second-generation immigrant candidates (Grace Meng, Ted Cruz, and Tammy Duckworth) had fared and considers what can be said about immigrant voting behaviors in light of what we now know about immigrant-serving nonprofit behavior. Further, given these patterns, the chapter turns to what nonprofits can do in the future to better incorporate electoral work into their missions and what the findings of this research suggest for the presidential election in 2016 and beyond. The chapter looks ahead to future elections and recommends that immigrant-serving nonprofits consider seven issues when they decide to engage in an election: technology, staffing, institutionalization, continuous strategy, coalitions, new gateways, and authenticity.

The Precarious Position of Immigrants

This chapter explores the demographic shifts that took place between 2000 and 2012, which saw the composition of immigrants in the United States change greatly. Despite growing in number over the last three decades, immigrants have participated in politics at lower levels than other U.S. citizens. This chapter examines the gap in immigrant voting with the help of important findings from political behavior and political sociology research. This literature shows how varied immigrant politics are in the United States and also suggests why nonprofit engagement in elections should draw more attention. The chapter also examines how political institutions, especially nonprofit organizations, have advanced and sometimes slowed immigrant voting.

“You Don’t Vote, You Don’t Count”

This chapter examines the 2012 primary contests and general election campaigns in many parts of the country, in the wake of controversial 2010 congressional redistricting. In some cases, immigrants were the subject matter of these campaigns; in others, immigrants were the actual candidates. In all cases, immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations adjusted their strategies to different political situations. The chapter explores specific races and the development of voter ID laws that threatened to undermine nonprofit voter mobilization of immigrants in many states. In doing so the chapter uses these races to demonstrate six important themes that run throughout the rest of the book. It also examines national immigrant-serving organizations and their use of campaign donations in the 2012 election.

Choosing Where to Focus

This chapter extends the analysis from the previous chapter to the second dimension of advocacy and election: venue choice. This second half of the reflective electoral representation theory argues that these organizations next look to the political and power position of immigrants to make a strategic decision about where to focus an electoral agenda. The chapter presents an analysis of the factors related to an immigrant-serving nonprofit engaging in elections primarily at the national, state, or local level. The chapter shows that when dramatic local events occur, such as a hate crime, nonprofits tend to focus their work at that level rather than at the state or national level; but when the size of the local immigrant community is large, the group will focus more on the state or national level.

A Model of Immigrant-Serving Engagement

This chapter articulates a new model of electoral engagement for immigrant-serving nonprofits. In the political and financial landscape leading up to the 2012 election, nonprofits faced opportunities and barriers to engaging in electoral politics. The chapter uses the reflective electoral representation theory to identify several factors associated with the level of nonprofit engagement in electioneering, and the electoral venue choice theory to argue that a different set of political factors will be involved in which venue (local, state, or national) an immigrant-serving nonprofit focuses its work. In particular, the chapter focuses on the cases of the MinKwon Center for Community Action in New York, Korean American Community Center of Princeton (KCCP) in New Jersey, Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE) in Illinois, and Latino Advocacy Coalition (LAC) in North Carolina.