Nonprofit Advocacy and Civic Engagement on the Internet

This study extends prior work on the social role of nonprofits by investigating Web site use for e-advocacy and e-democracy (civic engagement). Building from interviews with 200 nonprofit executive directors, results reveal that rights groups, environmental organizations, and policy entrepreneurs are consistently likely to mention advocacy and promote civic engagement on their Web sites. By contrast, funding structure and resource dependence generally fail to explain nonprofit use of Web sites for social purposes, suggesting that external controls may not constrain nonprofits. In light of these results, the study concludes with an agenda for future research on the relationship between civic engagement and advocacy.