Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Nonprofits say advocacy is important, yet limited time and resources prevent a significant focus on it. This is not a new finding, but one that was recently confirmed by a survey by the Johns Hopkins University Nonprofit Listening Post Project. The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) partnered with Johns Hopkins in this effort to understand more fully the motivations and barriers that charities and other nonprofits face in their attempts to engage in advocacy and lobbying.
The survey highlighted other barriers to greater involvement in the public policy process at federal, state and local levels, including confusion about the law, lack of board member support and constraints placed by foundations and other funders.
The good news is that 90 percent of the survey respondents recognize that nonprofits have a duty to advocate for public policies related to their missions. Of this same group, 73 percent indicated that they had actually engaged in some form of advocacy or lobbying during the past year. And, fewer still said they worked on public policy at least once a month.
What needs to be done to balance the stated importance of lobbying with a matching level of active engagement in the democratic process? First of all, we need to make “lobbying” and “advocacy” noble words. Lobbying, in particular, continues to connote back room deals and unethical practices. Unfortunately, the legacy of Jack Abramoff lives on in the reluctance of many charities to characterize what they do as lobbying and to make it a core function of their organizations. Second, more and regular training on nonprofit lobbying laws, regulations and practices need to occur. Training is being done by groups like CLPI and the Alliance for Justice, but lack of substantive funding makes it impossible to provide assistance to all nonprofits that need it, especially small and mid-sized groups. Third, commitment to lobbying and advocacy needs to come from the top. Boards of directors, executives and funders must recognize their leadership roles in promoting civic action as a critical means toward meeting organizational missions. Lobbying for the public’s interests should be a part of a charity’s interest. Fourth, nonprofits that are actively engaged in lobbying should be more vocal promoting its value, touting advocacy successes and encouraging other nonprofits to become more involved.
While the voice of the nonprofit sector in the development of laws and policies needs to be stronger, there are many public policy successes that have occurred over the course of history. Major accomplishments such as disease research, tobacco control, environmental safeguards, civil rights, worker protections, etc, etc came about because of the active involvement of a variety of charities, associations and other nonprofits working to advance policies that have made individual lives better and our country stronger.
To read the full report, “Nonprofit America: A Force for Democracy?” go to http://www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/news.
