Everyday Advocacy Resources

From advocacy toolkits and informative “how to” sheets to recent opinion pieces and material about federal, state, and local lobbying laws, this section of our website provides resources to nonprofit leaders about ways to advance their missions through everyday advocacy.

Contents

Advocacy Toolkits

• Resources from the Stand For Your Mission collaboration (2014)
  • The Board’s Role in Advocacy: An Expectation for Engaged Leadership
  • The Power of Board Advocacy: A Discussion Guide for Boards
• “Effective Advocacy at All Levels of Government,” an online Advocacy Handbook (2008: published by the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and W.K. Kellogg Foundation)
• “Foundations for Civic Impact: Advocacy and Civic Engagement Toolkit for Community Foundations” (2010) (Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, in collaboration with the Council on Foundations, CFLeads and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund)
• Public Policy Planning Checklist
• Resources from Alliance for Justice
  • State Lobbying Registration Thresholds
  • Toolkits
  • A Funder’s Guide to Supporting Advocacy
• Resources from the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI)
  • CLPI Roadmap provides guidance on the questions nonprofits should consider in building their capacity for legislative advocacy and developing a strategy for engagement.
  • Make a Difference for Your Cause in Three Hours a Week
  • Advocacy Tactics 
    • Finding and Using Data
    • Working in Coalitions
    • Know the Legislative Process and Players
  • Lobbying Tactics
    • Writing a Letter
    • Personal Visits with a Legislator
    • Presenting Legislative Testimony
  • Smart and Ethical Principles and Practices for Public Interest Lobbying
  • Benchmarking Chart
  • Evaluating Your Nonprofit’s Lobbyist

Articles & Chapters

• Elizabeth T. Boris & Jeff Krehely, “Civic Participation and Advocacy,” Part II, ch. 10 in The State of Nonprofit America; Lester M. Salamon, ed. (2^nd ed. Brookings Institution Press 2012)
• Rick Cohen, “Changing the Conversation About Overhead,” NTEN Change (June 2014)
• Tim Delaney, “Substantial Activity: Building Nonprofit Political Heft,”  The Nonprofit Quarterly (Winter 2008)
• Tim Delaney, “Nonprofits: We Must Start Beating the Drum,” Nonprofit Quarterly (Aug. 2009)  
• Tim Delaney, “Connecting the Dots,” BoardSource (Jan./Feb. 2011)
• Tim Delaney, “Economic Burdens Being Shifted to Nonprofits and Donors,” in Mosaic (Southwest Airlines; Winter 2013/2014)
• David L. Thompson, “Who Has the Time” And Other Questions on Nonprofit Advocacy,” Nonprofit Advantage (CT Nonprofits; Summer 2014)

Books & Guides

• Alliance for Justice, Worry-Free Lobbying for Nonprofits: How to Use the 501(h) Election to Maximize Effectiveness (2003)
• Alliance for Justice, Being a Player: A Guide to the IRS Lobbying Requirements for Advocating Charities (2011)
• Nancy Amidei, So You Want to Make a Difference: Advocacy is the Key! (OMB Watch; 14th ed. 2002)
• David F. Arons, ed. Power in Policy: A Funder’s Guide to Advocacy and Civic Participation (Fieldstone Alliance 2007)
• Thomas R. Asher, Myth v. Fact: Foundation Support of Advocacy (Alliance for Justice 2003)
• Marcia Avner, The Lobbying and Advocacy Handbook for Nonprofit Organizations: Shaping Public Policy at the State and Local Level (Amherst H. Wilder Foundation 2002)
• Marcia Avner, The Nonprofit Board Member’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy (Amherst H. Wilder Foundation 2004)
• Gary Bass, David Arons, Kay Guiane, Matthew Carter, Seen But Not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy (The Aspen Institute 2007)
• Jeffrey M. Berry, with David F. Arons, A Voice for Nonprofits (The Brookings Institution 2003)
• Elizabeth T. Boris & C. Eugene Steuerle, Nonprofits & Government: Collaboration & Conflict (2^nd ed. 2006)
• Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, Make a Difference for Your Cause: Strategies for Nonprofit Engagement in Legislative Advocacy (2006)
• David Cohen, Rosa de le Vega, Gabrielle Watson, Advocacy for Social Justice: A Global Action and Reflection Guide (Kumarian Press 2001)
• Leslie Crutchfield & Heather McLeod Grant, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits (2008) (see especially Ch. 2: “Advocate and Serve”)
• Allison H. Fine, Momentum: Igniting Social Change (Jossey-Bass 2006)
• Pat Libby & Associates, The Lobbying Strategy Handbook: 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively (SAGE Publications 2012)
• Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgab Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka, editors; Nonprofits & Advocacy: Engaging Community and Government in an Era of Retrenchment (2014)

Case Studies

Government Reports

• Government Accounting Office, Federal Lobbying: Differences in Lobbying Definitions and Their Impact  (U.S. General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees: GAO/GGD-99-38; April 1999)

Laws & Forms

Federal

• IRS, Measuring Lobbying Activity: Expenditure Test (501(h) election)
• National Council of Nonprofits, The Powerful and Free 501(h) Election

State & Local

• Alliance for Justice, State Law Resources

Opinion Pieces

• Tim Delaney, Foundations Can Rewrite History by Focusing on the States, Nonprofit Quarterly (March 2014)
• Tim Delaney, “Advocacy by Charitable Nonprofits: Flipping the Accountability Lens to Focus on Government Actions,” Columbia Law School’s National State Attorneys General Program’s 2013 Charity Regulation and Oversight Project Policy Conference)
• Tim Delaney, Nonprofits, Tell Congress: 'Help, or at Least Do No Harm,' Nonprofit Quarterly (Oct. 2011)
• Tim Delaney, When Government Shuts Down, the Nonprofit Community Pays, Philanthropy News Digest (Foundation Center; 2013)

Research Reports

• Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, “Strengthening Civic Impact: An Evaluation of Public Policy Trainings” (2009)
• Lester Salamon and Stephanie Lessans Geller, Nonprofit America: A Force for Democracy? Communiqué #9, Johns Hopkins Listening Post Project, provides survey data on the scope of nonprofit advocacy, resources, and rationales for engaging and not engaging in advocacy efforts.
• Lester Salamon and Stephanie Lessans Geller, Roundtable on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying, Communiqué #13, Johns Hopkins Listening Post Project, notes from a discussion about survey data on the level of public policy engagement of nonprofit organizations. 
• Chelsea Newhouse, Chicago Roundtable on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying, Communiqué #18, Johns Hopkins Listening Post Project, summarizes the findings of the second Listening Post roundtable discussion, focused on what assets are available to the sector and how to better leverage them to support advocacy efforts.
• The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, as part of its Grant Making for Community Impact Project, examined the community benefits that result directly from nonprofit advocacy and published comprehensive reports on “Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities, Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement” including these for the following locations:
  • Los Angeles County 
  • Minnesota
  • New Mexico
  • North Carolina
  • Northwest Region

Videos

Websites

• Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Project
• Council on Foundations' Public Policy landing page
• Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers’ PublicWorks Project
• Independent Sector’s Policy & Advocacy landing page
• NonprofitVOTE
• Stand For Your Mission (joint project by Alliance for Justice, BoardSource, Campion Foundation, Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, Knight Foundation, and National Council of Nonprofits)