Affinity Bar Associations: Using Your Voice to Effectuate Change

Bolder Advocacy and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) proudly present the Affinity Bar Associations factsheet. Affinity bar associations serve many critical advocacy needs – not only for their members, but also for the communities they represent. However, like many 501(c)(6) organizations, bar associations sometimes shy away from lobbying and other politically related activities out of concern for their tax status. By failing to employ allowable lobbying and political activities, your association may be overlooking activities that may be enormously helpful in carrying out your mission. Here, we will consider some of the most common questions in this area. The focus will be on 501(c)(6) organizations. However, as associations are sometimes established as 501(c)(3) public charities, we have included a comparison chart showing how the rules pertaining to those organizations differ.

NAPABA is the nation’s largest Asian Pacific American membership organization representing the interest of 60,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students.

• NAPABA is the national voice for the Asian Pacific American legal profession.
• NAPABA promotes justice, equity, and opportunity for Asian Pacific Americans.
• NAPABA fosters professional development, legal scholarship, advocacy, and community involvement.