The U.S. Census is conducted every 10 years to count every person residing within the United States. The next Census will be taking place in 2020, and it is critical that nonprofits help “get out the count.” Your nonprofit can help get out the count in 2020 by being proactive and reactive. Proactive steps include using Washington Nonprofits’ Census Action Kit to encourage your clients, staff, and board to get counted; setting up a booth at your events to encourage participation; or even letting folks drop in to your facility to complete the Census. See the timeline and checklist document we’ve included in this toolkit for suggested activities. You can also be reactive by training your staff to reference the materials in our toolkit so they can answer basic questions about the Census, such as the why, when, and how of participating in the Census.
Our toolkit design has been informed by statewide stakeholder research. You can download and read our summary report here.
Click here to access the 2020 Census Action Kit materials.
Watch the video and read on to learn more about the Census.
The video above is in English. Click the CC button for closed captioning. The video below contains Spanish subtitles.
To help get ready for the 2020 count, your nonprofit can also:
- Sign up for updates from Washington Nonprofits.
- Watch this webinar from Nonprofit Vote on how to plan for 2020 Census work.
- Visit NonprofitsCount.org to learn more about the role nonprofits can play in the 2020 Census.
- Click here to learn how you can take action to support an accurate count.
- Connect with the Washington Census Alliance, which is a statewide coalition of organizations led by, and who serve communities of color, in order to focus energy and resources on historically undercounted communities in their regions and throughout Washington state.
- Download the fact sheet about the Census and response confidentialiaty.
- Check out our Census FAQ and resource page.
- Start talking about what’s at stake for your community with your board, staff and clients.
- Join or start a local organizing coalition.
- Sign up for updates from the Washington State Complete Count Committee.
- Circulate job postings from the Census Bureau so that individuals with deep community knowledge are part of the frontline staff getting out the count. Jobs are posted here.