Under the leadership of then executive director Robert Bothwell, NCRP pushed the CFC to allow the participation of nonprofit advocacy groups and nontraditional charities such as women’s groups and racial/ethnic groups.
Bothwell recounted in an impact study:
“We lobbied Congress to hold hearings on the CFC. Congress did. After the hearings in 1979, we lobbied the House Subcommittee on Civic Service to report out recommendations to open up the CFC. It did.
We lobbied the Carter Administration to implement the Subcommittee recommendations. The Civil Service Commission (forerunner of today’s Office of Personnel Management) did.
We organized a coalition to lobby congress to fight the Reagan Administration’s attempts to eliminate advocacy groups from the CFC. Others filed lawsuits.
With substantial effort from NCRP’s chief lobbyist, Raymond Brown, we were all successful year after year in winning battles to keep advocacy groups in the CFC, finally getting permanent legislation enacted in 1987, and good regulations enacted in 1988.”
Observers estimate that approximately $50 million of the total given out annually by the CFC is now going to benefit advocacy groups. That wouldn’t have happened without NCRP and its coalition partners for this campaign.