The nonprofit sector plays a key role in our society today. In partnership with government, nonprofit organizations are engaged in service delivery, research, educating the public, and much more -- in general, they work to build a better world, at home and abroad. People across the country use nonprofit organizations to learn more about key issues of the day, and to link up with other citizens to create a more powerful voice. Nonprofit organizations themselves also speak to policy-makers and the public on behalf of the people they serve. Advocacy by the nonprofit sector has led to significant improvements in people's lives at the local, state, and federal levels. Because nonprofit organizations do not stand to profit by lobbying and can provide enormous insight on public policy issues, Congress has encouraged them to lobby. However, it has placed detailed restrictions on the amount of money nonprofit organizations can use for these purposes. Nonprofits also are barred from using any federal funds for lobbying and partisan politics. Nonprofit organizations faithfully comply with all these restrictions and support enforcement of penalties if the rules are ever violated. However, some in Congress are proposing to go beyond current restrictions to silence the advocacy voice of the nonprofit sector. They would, for example, expand the lobbying restrictions to include all advocacy activities, bar certain organizations that engage in advocacy from receiving any federal grants, and prohibit federal employees from making workplace contributions to nonprofits that engage in advocacy. Such efforts will have a chilling impact on the democratic process as well as the rights of individuals and organizations to participate in public policy debates. More than 3,000 community organizations and over 500 national organizations have lined up to oppose any effort to restrict the advocacy voice of the nonprofit sector. Curtailing the historical responsibility to speak to the public and to policy-makers on behalf of the people whom nonprofit organizations serve would be a severe blow to our democratic freedoms.