An overview of the entire issue that pulls together the threads of our major theme: advocacy.
Advocacy: A Core Competency of Nonprofit Management
An editorial perspective from the staff of the Nonprofit Quarterly.
Framing Social Policy
Was the violent death of two-year-old Raheem Dixon another unfortunate expression of the culture of urban poverty or the by-product of poorly conceived public policy? Gamson explains the role of issue-frames in determining which issues get on the agenda of policymakers and offers suggestions for asserting alternative frames.
Advocacy and Lobbying Without Fear: What Is Allowed within a 501(c)(3) Charitable Organization
What is Allowed within a 501c3 Charitable Organization Raffa assures us that the Internal Revenue Code is not a barrier to nonprofits promoting their interests—provided the distinction between lobbying and advocacy is understood and documented.
The Zen of Leadership: Understanding
For Hardie, sailing becomes a metaphor for leadership in which the dialogue between wind, waves and an able seaman captures the interplay of contradiction, ambiguity, and rhythm that is at the heart of effective executive direction.
The Meaning and Actions of Advocacy
The author offers a rich illustration of the range of options available to nonprofit organizations, clarifying and distinguishing among the many definitions of the term, advocacy.
Guarding Our Voice: Emerging Issues on the Advocacy Horizon
The author examines recent proposals that would mandate a burdensome increase in reporting of advocacy-related activities.
The Big Chill
The author traces the sector’s reluctant support for public policy advocacy to the success of a deliberate, 20-year campaign of misinformation and intimidation, orchestrated by social conservatives against “liberal” foundations and their grantees.
State Level Policy: Growing Role for Nonprofit Associations
Alvarado believes that public advocacy by nonprofit organizations is an indispensable mission component. However, becoming effective policy assets will require that the sector begin building the infrastructure that will facilitate its speaking and acting as a united front.
Separate, We Lose
Eisenberg concludes that despite the dramatic growth, frenetic activity and increasing diversity, the nonprofit sector’s influence over meaningful public policy is actually weaker than ever before.
Foundation Payout: Considerations and Actions for Nonprofit Executive Directors
Payout advocates argue that the only substantive barrier to raising current levels of charitable spending is timidity—at both ends of the grantmaking relationship.
Core Principles for the Organization of Extraordinary Boards
McCambridge offers 10 principles of nonprofit governance, not as a prescription, but as jumping-off point for boards examining their own effectiveness.