NPCC’s Declaration of Nonprofit Rights

NPCC’s Declaration of Nonprofit Rights

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We are thrilled to launch NPCC’s Declaration of Nonprofit Rights. The Declaration of Nonprofit Rights is NPCC’s bold vision for a powerful nonprofit sector. It is NPCC’s North Star, the guiding principles that form the basis of our worldview of the sector’s needs and potentials, and in turn, guide our day-to-day public policy work to meet those needs and potential.

The Declaration articulates NPCC’s understanding, through the four principles, of what nonprofits must have in order to be engaged and effective.

The rights-based language is intentional, and provides an aspirational vision that we will work to achieve.

The Declaration is not a call to action; it is action.

It is also our guiding principles. From the Declaration flows NPCC’s tactical platforms, positions, campaigns, and other movement building work that we engage in each year.

  • We have a right to sustainable resources and a responsibility to serve our communities well.
  • We have a right to engage in advocacy and a responsibility to share our expertise.
  • We have a right to be fairly treated as a workforce and a responsibility to champion equity.
  • We have a right to be powerful forces of change and a responsibility to advance the future of all communities.

With sustainable resources we are more effective.

With the understanding that advocacy is a key tool in achieving our mission, we are more useful in helping solve the world’s biggest problems.

With a thriving, equitable workforce, and equitable strategies to achieve our goals, we will achieve success throughout the sector.

And with realized power, when we know our worth, and we understand power as a force for change, we will see social advancement.

A word about power - a word that often scares us. We know that power can be abused, and a concentration of power can be dangerous. However, power is not in itself a bad word, and is necessary to bring about positive change. We are proud to say that we as a sector need power - the power to move policy, the power to be full decision-makers in solutions, the power to ask for what our communities need and deserve, and get it. And we know that we need this power because it is the only thing that will bring about the change that our communities have worked so hard to make.

Each principle is defined by the Declaration to begin shaping the framework of the discussion about the principle, and to set the most critical priorities. In the coming months, we will talk about each principle in depth.

We know that the work that we do is important, and shapes our communities and our city. We know that this work brings about innovation and change. We also know that this work is often exhausting, built from a scarcity that is real, and that is so demanding that it is often hard to see the way to the power that we need to accomplish the goals we set. This Declaration knits together the things that we think are most critical to build this power.

We know that, with all meaningful conversations, we will have different points of view - and we look forward to how these conversations can refine the Declaration, the principles therein, and the sector’s power to create change. We will treat this Declaration as our north star, and guiding resource, but we will recognize that, as with all things, change is necessary and good. We will endeavor to include your thoughts, ideas, and insights into this work, and this Declaration, each year.

Let us know what you think about the Declaration. And join us over the next months and years in making it a reality for all nonprofits, and the communities we serve.