Newsletters > Summer 1999 > What Is the Difference Between the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition and the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition ACTION NETWORK -
WHY TWO COALITIONS?

The Minnesota Natural Health Coalition was formed by citizens who were outraged about the persecution of alternative health providers which included naturopaths, doctors, dentists and lay people. They decided to be proactive and change the law so that consumers could have access to them now rather than wait for the next provider who might be sanctioned. They decided to become a non-profit organization so that people could deduct their contributions, but soon found out that under the law, only a small portion of a non-profit's activities and funds could be used for lobbying purposes. As a nonprofit they could primarily only educate the public about alternative health and its position in society.

The dilemma was how to change the law if they could not lobby? Well, one way is to educate the public about alternative health. They can inform the public that there is a problem. They can educate all they want under their nonprofit status but they cannot lobby very much. So then it came time to introduce legislation to change the law. A new law would make room for alternative providers, giving consumers a health care option

Is it different educating the public vs. educating our legislators? Yes, so a political fund was formed: The Minnesota Natural Health Coalition ACTION NETWORK. 201 legislators and a governor needed to be informed and educated. This kind of education is called lobbying. The citizens legally needed to form a political fund to lobby. A political fund is for lobbying. This way they could raise non tax deductible funds strictly for lobbying purposes. They could also use this political fund to encourage citizens to contact their legislators with their opinions. With this fund, they could hire a lobbyist so that they could pass their bill.

So the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition can educate and inform with a very small amount of lobbying. Contributions are tax deductible. The Minnesota Natural Health Coalition Action Network is for lobbying. Contributions to the Action Network are Not tax deductible.

Passing any legislation is a lot of work and very expensive. Passing this sort of legislation that is within a whole different paradigm and requires a whole change in ones' way of viewing the world requires lots of non tax deductible funds and lots of work by many volunteers.