In today’s polarized climate, “advocacy” sometimes gets a bad rap. As a result, some nonprofits and community-based organizations shy away from engaging in such efforts.
But advocacy is so much more than just outspoken public support for a particular cause or policy.
For nonprofits and community-based organizations, advocacy represents a powerful opportunity to:
- Present a case for support of the organization’s mission through storytelling, comparative analysis, and trend research
- Build and cultivate relationships with community partners
- Publicize what your organization hopes to achieve by outlining funding support, resources, and defined next steps
To be a nonprofit leader is to be an advocate. But leading a movement requires organizations to drive systemic change—which is no small task. At Next Stage, we feel nonprofits and mission-driven organizations are uniquely positioned to fuel effective and sustainable efforts to achieve that needed change. They just need to know where to start.
Pushing Past Discomfort
Many nonprofits have established, comfortable methods for promoting their mission, vision, programs, and services. These traditional approaches often include educating the public about their work, raising awareness of their cause, or engaging donors and volunteers to help build organizational capacity or assist with branding efforts.
While these methods are a form of advocacy and help people understand the organization’s scope, there’s a more intensive approach that requires “thinking outside the box” and embracing discomfort. This deeper level of advocacy may involve:
- Meeting with local government officials (e.g., city council members or county commissioners)
- Writing public letters to make initiatives part of public record
- Organizing protests to draw attention to the cause
These assertive tactics can be uncomfortable but may be necessary to effectively and thoroughly address the nonprofit’s cause and help drive meaningful change.
Building Your Advocacy Blueprint
In a recent Next Stage client engagement, we asked the following questions regarding advocacy efforts to help spark this kind of “out of the box” thinking:
- What ways can your organization share information beyond standard communication methods like social media and email?
- What decision-makers could support your initiative (e.g., elected officials, community partners, etc.)?
Wondering where your organization should begin? Here are some key action steps to consider:
- Amplify community voices. Speak up for individuals who are overlooked. Share stories about your personal journey and invite others to share theirs. This kind of storytelling is not only validating but also enlightening.
- Adopt an asset-based lens. Educate yourself on how to best communicate the challenges of the people your nonprofit faces by recognizing what resources are already in place. What “neighborhood PhDs” exist that you can connect with? Where are key community locations you can leverage to connect with and poll constituents to gain their input? What do you already know about the most pressing issues facing your community? How can you use that knowledge to design open-ended questions that invite room for additional concerns to be surfaced and addressed?
- Establish an action plan and determine goals. What do you want to achieve and how do those goals align with your organization’s values? This allows for accountability in staying the course on specific objectives. Plus, it enables you to share your visionary advocacy plan with others to gain their approval and support.
- Find allies—and opposition. Identify people who share your mindset around challenging the status quo but be willing to also discuss your goals with people who may not necessarily agree with your line of thinking to gain a holistic perspective. Having conversations across the aisle proves that you don’t necessarily have to fully agree to achieve change in a positive direction.
Embracing Your Advocacy Mission
One of the primary goals of advocacy is to bridge the gap and provide an equitable framework between constituents and decision-makers while advancing policy change and collective impact on the local, regional, and federal level. The stakes are high—especially for the children, families, and individuals your organization serves. It’s also important to recognize that advocacy can be a slow and lonely process. It requires patience to achieve sustainable and life-changing outcomes, but it’s worth it.
So don’t shift the responsibility thinking it’s another organization’s job to do the critical work of advocacy. Nope, it’s your job. But you don’t have to do it alone!
Review your approach. Push through the discomfort. And lead the charge in your unique way.
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Looking for support on how your organization can get involved in advocacy efforts?
Join us for our next FREE webinar in our Community Voice series: Advocacy & Community Voice: Building a Movement of People.
We’ll examine:
- How to integrate advocacy efforts into your nonprofit
- Why using community insights can drive change
- Strategies for building a movement of people
This free webinar will run September 19 at 11:00 am ET. Register here!
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Next Stage Senior Director of Community Voice Helen Hope Kimbrough centers the perspective and lived experience of others to inform meaningful strategic planning and implementation efforts. Helen also champions diversity, equity, and inclusion for societal and organizational change. She serves on the board of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation and Parent Child+ and is the author of four multicultural children’s books. She’s the founder of an independent publishing company and cohost of the Behind The Throne podcast. A graduate of Hampton University, Helen holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. She also has certifications in “Systems Thinking” and “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace” from Cornell University and the University of South Florida, respectively.