I recently came across a story about anthropologist Margaret Mead. She was asked by a student – what was the first sign of civilization in ancient culture? The student (and I) expected an answer such as fishhooks, grinding stones or some other tool. Instead, she said something astonishing – the first sign of civilization was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and healed. She then explained that until that point in the animal kingdom, if you were injured, you died. You could not survive long enough with a broken leg to heal. So, the healing had to be done by someone else who took the time to fix the wound, nurse the individual back to health and stay to protect them in the meantime. Helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts, according to Mead.
Like the early humans who first helped each other to create the beginnings of civilization Margaret Mead described, we too have an opportunity to fix what is broken and elevate the greater good. In our great democracy, advocacy provides us with the opportunity to affect positive social change on a wider scale than any individual organization can achieve on its own.
Yet, it’s one many organizations shy away from. A recent study by Independent Sector shows that only 31% of nonprofits engaged in advocacy (or lobbying) over the last five years compared to 74% two decades ago. We want to change that. In this three-part series, we explain why advocacy is a critical tool for helping your clients and give you the confidence and foundational knowledge to add advocacy to your strategy moving forward.
Nonprofits work directly on the toughest social issues every day, but to maximize our impact, we need to be advocates. Many of our clients do not have a voice, so we need to engage in advocacy and lobbying to ensure their voice is heard. If we want government to listen, we must speak loudly, regularly and consistently as a sector and have well-formulated solutions ready. This upcoming legislative season, we challenge each organization to take on ONE issue on your own or with a coalition group that greatly impacts your mission and those you serve.
We want to share the obvious, as well as subtle, reasons behind this push:
#1: Adding a public policy strategy moves nonprofits and social service providers from being reactive to being proactive.
Public policy does more than precede social service programming. It drives social service programming, because legislation often deeply impacts our work – either in a positive or negative way. A public policy component allows organizations to help shape policies that affect their constituents and gives them the opportunity to play offense rather than defense. Policymakers also trust nonprofits because they are on the frontline of issues and typically advocate for the greater good.
#2: A public policy strategy facilitates outreach and creates partnerships and strategic alliances.
Public policy engages the widest possible audience and builds public awareness and support for the organization, its purpose and clientele. It also helps identify and unite organizations that share a common goal or purpose and encourages them to work together to advance mutual interest. In fact, only 57% of nonprofits belong to collaborative groups that advocate. Every nonprofit has a local or statewide group that advocates on their behalf. These groups not only help us learn from others, but also support a collective policy agenda. When policymakers see nonprofits working together on an issue, they are much more likely to be influenced to take action.
#3: Developing a public policy strategy strengthens and enhances organizational capabilities.
The focus on programs to the exclusion of all other considerations limits the vision of possibilities for change within the nonprofit sector. Government has a wide variety of tools available to scale successful initiatives. A public policy strategy expands organizational vision, sharpens focus and helps to clarify the organization’s mission. By matching programs to policy, a public policy function also helps to identify gaps in services and charts the course for future program development.
The addition of a public policy initiative (which could be as simple as encouraging people to register to vote, which only 13% of nonprofits do) creates cutting-edge ways of addressing old concerns. We can no longer afford to be passive observers of the winds of change. Instead, nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs must keep pace and play our part in shaping mission-related public policy in an ever-shifting landscape. We must expand our vision and evolve into more proactive organizations. Rather than have policy imposed upon us, nonprofits and social service providers must instead influence and shape public policy to ensure it leads to the greater good.
We strongly urge your nonprofit organization to start small and build a public policy strategy into your next strategic plan. If you currently have an advocacy strategy, please share your suggestions on how you elevated it as a priority in your nonprofit.
