Allen Mattison helps nonprofit organizations mitigate legal risks while maximizing their ability to advocate effectively for their public-policy missions. From establishing nonprofits and securing I.R.S. tax exemptions, to advising on grant issues and understanding options for political activism, he helps nonprofit leaders succeed in all phases of their organizations’ lives. For nonprofit leaders who want to influence elections or pass new laws, he explains the available options and works with them to tailor their tactics to the relevant federal or state lobbying and campaign-finance regime. Leaders at section 501(c)(3) organizations rely on Allen to learn the line between educational and lobbying activities; he helps them develop strategies to stretch their non-lobbying funds to maximize advocacy impact – saving scarce lobbying dollars for when they will have the biggest bang for the buck.

Before becoming a lawyer, Allen worked in political communications, serving as the Sierra Club’s national media relations director and in communications roles on campaigns and in the U.S. Senate. These experiences give him perspective on the challenges nonprofit managers and grantmakers face in developing programs that maximize their advocacy power within the restrictions imposed on section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations and PACs.

Using his communications background, Allen has helped numerous organizations understand how to structure their digital outreach within various lobbying and campaign-finance laws. He wrote Friends, Tweets, and Links: IRS Treatment of Social Media Activities By Section 501(c)(3) Organizations, 67 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 445 (May 2011), one of the first scholarly articles to address charities’ election-related use of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools. He also wrote Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities (Alliance for Justice, 2011; 2nd edition 2022), a plain-language guidebook for nonprofit managers seeking to maximize their social media power without violating relevant laws.

Practice Areas
Campaign Finance & Election Law
Corporate Formation and Governance
Lobbying Law & Government Ethics
Tax-Exempt Organizations

Professional Experience
Sierra Club, Director of Media Relations, Press Secretary
Nixon for Senate, Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Deputy Press Secretary

Education
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. cum laude
Washington University in St. Louis, B.A. with college honors

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
Maryland

Honors & Recognitions
Shepley Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Service to Washington University

Publications & Speaking
Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities, Alliance for Justice 2011; 2nd edition 2022.

Friends, Tweets, and Links: IRS Treatment of Social Media Activities By Section 501(c)(3) Organizations, 67 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 445 (May 2011).

Can the New Bankruptcy Law Benefit Debtors, Too?: Interpreting the 2005 Bankruptcy Act to Clean Up the Credit-Counseling Industry and Save Debtors from Chronic Poverty, 13 Geo. J. on Poverty L. and Pol’y 513 (2006).