ABSTRACT
Early social welfare groups were membership organizations, such as Moose lodges, yacht and country clubs, or police and firefighter benefit associations. Today, however, social welfare organizations have broadened and diversified to make distinctions between social welfare organizations and other nonprofit organizations less obvious in practice. Little information exists on social welfare organizations as a class of tax-exempt organizations and on its subset of advocacy organizations, inviting faulty characterizations of their activities and finances. Public awareness about the role of nonprofits in policymaking and elections is increasing, along with questions about the legitimacy and accountability of advocacy nonprofit organizations. Many of the early social welfare groups were membership organizations, but operated for the common good by serving communities. A common misconception in nonprofit research equates the entire class of social welfare organizations with “action” or advocacy.
