The real ones. Answered straight.
A nonpartisan membership organization working to make sure no public office is decided without a choice on the ballot — by presenting every candidate equally, and by training ordinary citizens to run.
No. No affiliation, no shared funding, no shared governance, no shared history. We’re a separate and independent organization with a different mission. They educate voters, which we respect. We do that and we recruit and train candidates — which is a different job with different legal boundaries.
No. Different organization, different mission, no connection.
No. We are a nonpartisan civic-education nonprofit. We nominate no one, endorse no one, and run no one’s campaign. We could not be a party without giving up everything that makes us useful.
No. We make no contributions to candidates and no independent expenditures on their behalf. That is why we do not register as a political committee with the Washington PDC or the FEC, and we intend to keep it that way.
Derrill Fussell of Mount Vernon, Washington, is the founding president, working with a founding board. Meet the leadership →
No. It refers to the constitutional design that assumes an election is a choice — terms end, seats open, citizens step forward, voters decide. We take no position on constitutional interpretation, and we take no position on any issue a candidate might run on. Members and candidates of every persuasion are equally welcome and equally served. Read our principles →
Because ours is structural rather than aspirational. Nonpartisanship is Article I of the bylaws, amendable only by a supermajority of the full membership — not by a board vote. Every county charter is revocable for violating it. Every event keeps a written invitation log, so equal treatment is documented and checkable rather than asserted. And we hold no policy positions at all, which means there is nothing for us to quietly grade candidates against.
Never. Not at any level, not for any office, not by any officer or chapter.
Yes. That is the job. If our workshops only produced candidates one side liked, we’d be a party organization with better branding.
No. There is no pledge, no questionnaire requirement, and no litmus test — for candidates or for members. Washington already requires every officeholder to swear an oath to the U.S. and state constitutions. We don’t need to add one.
Report it. Every complaint goes to the board and gets a written answer, and complaints are reported in aggregate in the annual report. Charters can be revoked for cause, with nonpartisanship violations named explicitly as cause.
$10/year under 25 or student. $30/year individual. $45/year household. Then lifetime tiers, paid once: $100 Legacy (available only in the first year of a local charter), $500 Founding, $1,000 Cornerstone, $5,000 Keystone, $10,000 Bedrock and $100,000 Benefactor. Every tier carries the same single vote.
Not yet. We’re a Washington nonprofit seeking IRS recognition as a 501(c)(3) charity. Until it’s granted, dues and donations aren’t deductible as charitable contributions. Once granted — and recognition generally reaches back — they are, and we’ll say so clearly right here.
Voting rights on the board and bylaws, every event, the Empty Ballot List and voter guides before they’re public, entry to the candidate workshop track at any time, and a named volunteer role within ninety days if you want one.
As much or as little as you want. Some members come to one meet-and-greet a year. Some run events monthly. Nobody will chase you.
No. Most members never will. The organization needs people who host rooms, edit guides, compile lists, greet strangers, and send a text to the one neighbor who should run. Those jobs matter as much as the candidates.
Yes. You’ll be an at-large member until a chapter is chartered near you — and at-large members are exactly how we decide where to charter next. Start a charter in your county →
Yes, from age 16 as a voting member. Younger members are welcome at events, and we’re glad to have you.
Yes. Membership is open regardless of citizenship or voter-registration status. Running for office has its own legal requirements, which are set by the state and not by us.
Yes, and you’re exactly who we hope reads this page.
Email us or don’t renew. There’s no auto-renew trap and no retention script.
No. Not with candidates, parties, vendors, or anyone else. Not ever.
No. Legacy and Founding Members are listed in the founding roll only if they opt in. Everything else is private.
It’s civic. We don’t take sides, don’t take issue positions, and don’t ask what yours are. If you’re uncomfortable being seen as partisan, this is close to the only room in this space where that concern doesn’t apply.
For most local offices: be a registered voter in the district. That’s the list. No education requirement, no professional requirement, no prior office, no approval from anyone. Always confirm current requirements with your county elections office.
1% of the office’s annual salary. For offices paying under $1,000 a year, a flat $10. And if that’s still a barrier, state law allows a petition instead — one signature per dollar of the fee. Ten dollars, ten signatures.
The first Monday in May through that Friday, in the year the office is up. The regular filing week does not move. In limited circumstances — for example when no one files for an office — state law provides for a short reopened filing period. Confirm current dates with your county elections office.
No. Most of the people we train have never attended a public meeting. The first session of the workshop assumes you know nothing, because most people don’t, and because the information genuinely is hard to find.
In our experience many local races in Washington are won on a few thousand dollars, and some on far less. We cover realistic budgets in the workshop.
No. Never. We assist with the process — forms, deadlines, checklists, and a volunteer sitting beside you. Money, message, and strategy are yours alone. That line is what keeps us legal and credible.
No. And a workshop graduate who runs against another workshop graduate gets exactly the same treatment from us as any other pair of candidates.
Several of the offices in your county are open, pay under $1,000 a year, cost $10 to file for, and have not been contested in a decade. Age is not on the qualification list. Being underestimated in a race nobody is watching is a workable position. Students and Under 25 →
Then a seat that would have been uncontested had an election in it, and the person who won had to earn it. That’s a real contribution to your community — and a great many local officeholders lost their first race.
Membership dues and donations. That’s it.
Administrative expenses are capped at the greater of $8,000 a year or 5% of annual revenue — the framework is required by the bylaws, and the figures live in board policy that must be disclosed to members. The floor exists because at startup scale, fixed costs like filings and insurance would exceed 5% of a tiny budget no matter how frugal we were. The 5% figure governs from $160,000 in revenue upward. See the full breakdown →
State and federal filings, insurance, banking, accounting, and legal. Events, guides, workshops, and travel to charter new counties are program delivery, not administration — the same way the IRS Form 990 categorizes them.
Under the current structure, no cash compensation is paid until the organization crosses defined revenue milestones set by the board. Reasonable expenses are reimbursed under a documented accountable-expense policy from day one. The full compensation ladder is published. Where your money goes →
Members elect the board. The board elects officers. At least one board seat is reserved for a member under 30. The treasurer may not be the president — the money watcher is independent by rule.
Yes, in full. Governance →
Yes. We publish an annual financial report to members, and our IRS filings are public. Where your money goes →
We’re small enough that a real person reads everything, and we answer every email.
No, and the Bylaws say we never will. Many nonpartisan-sounding organizations pair a charitable arm with a political arm that shares the brand. The League has one entity, one set of books, and no political arm. “Nonpartisan by bylaw, not by promise” means exactly that.
Only members who hold current Moderator Certification may moderate a League event or edit a League voter guide. Certification covers the Equal-Treatment Standard and a practicum. Certified moderators are listed on each county page, so any candidate can check before an event.
You can run — that is the point of the League. But any director, officer, chapter officer, or certified moderator who becomes a candidate, or takes a paid or titled role in any campaign or political committee, takes a leave of absence from every League role until the election is certified, and does not moderate, edit, or write questions for any event or guide in which that race appears. Your personal politics are your own; speaking for the League is not.