In order to reform government and industry practices, Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.) uses a variety of advocacy tactics, including public education and awareness, research, regulatory advocacy, congressional lobbying, and victim assistance. S.T.O.P.'s members include families who have suffered illness and loss from a contaminated meat and poultry, produce, juice and ready-to-eat processed foods and more. In this article their leaders explain how their comprehensive advocacy strategy has produced significant results. Read More
DC Vote's leadership remains hopeful that Congress will pass the DC Voting Rights Act in 2008. To do so, they’re stepping up their advocacy efforts. This article showcases DC Vote's innovative and determined advocacy efforts as a source of potential inspiration to nonprofits everywhere that serve the under-represented and the marginalized. Read More
In 2005, many Michigan nonprofits working for social justice in their communities were feeling discouraged and beleaguered. Not only were their issues were being ignored by policymakers in Michigan, but they also saw themselves on the defensive, fighting bills and policies that hurt the constituencies they represent. To fight back and get social justice issues back on the state agenda, several dozen 501(c)(3) organizations decided they needed a more cohesive voice for social justice in Michigan. Out of this desire, Michigan Voice was born. This year they have launched a cooperative project to share voter files, in order to target voter registration drives more effectively. Read More
Project VOTE is about more than voting: it helps groups use increased public interest in issues during election season as a way of building community involvement and civic engagement for the long term. Read More
Bird-dogging is a tactic used to directly engage policy makers when they make public appearances at campaign events, town meetings, or speeches. The aim is to put tough questions to elected officials or candidates and force them to answer when they are in front of their constituents, voters, and the media. To promote bird-dogging as a strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the 08.Stop.AIDS campaign developed a guide for its partners Birddogging 101. Although the guide centers on the issue of HIV/ AIDS policy, it is a helpful how-to manual for all issue advocates on using bird-dogging as an effective advocacy strategy. Here is a summary and some examples:
Read MoreThe last time No Casino Gettysburg, a nonprofit grassroots movement, was featured in NPAction we highlighted their use of candlelight vigils to openly express their opposition to the placement of a casino one mile from the Gettysburg civil war battle site. After a 20 month long battle, ending in December 2006, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) rejected plans for the Gettysburg Casino. The PGCB cited "overwhelming opposition" as one of the reasons for their decision. Find out more about how the creative and strategic advocacy efforts of No Casino Gettysburg played a key role in the decision to build elsewhere. Read More
Sponsored by Project H.O.M.E., the Vote for Homes! Coalition is a nonpartisan advocacy group based in Philadelphia working to register and mobilize low income and homeless people to vote. This highly organized and involved method of promoting an advocacy agenda while empowering low income voters is inspiring. The Vote for Homes! Coalition has registered over 8,500 voters and proven to successfully help homeless individuals overcome voting barriers. Read More
For two days in October 2006 over 380 nonprofit delegates from 47 states and the District of Columbia met in Washington to "chose their priorities and began to develop tactics to get us there", according to Audrey Alvarado, executive Director of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA). The meeting "was long overdue in that it purposefully brought together in dialogue the small-to-mid-size and often excruciatingly-local groups that make up the largest proportion of nonprofits in the U.S.," according to a column by Ruth McCambridge, in the Philanthropy Journal . She noted that selection of advocacy and grassroots community activity as one of the top priorities, "if embraced, could re-introduce this sector to the base and practice of its potential power and effectiveness." The other two priorities are organizational effectiveness and public awareness and support.
This effort has already generated healthy discussion and debate about how nonprofits can be more effective at achieving their goals, the need for a broader role in setting public priorities in addition to delivery of services, and the role that advocacy and grassroots organizing play in making positive change. Learn more about what the Nonprofit Congress is doing nationally and in your state, and join the dialog on what comes next.
Read MoreIn 2006 nonprofits are leading the charge to protect voters' rights and the integrity of the electoral process. State and local groups have partnered with national organizations that provide information and legal expertise to challenge new laws and regulations that inhibit peoples' ability to register and vote. Known as the "new voter suppression tactics", these laws place unnecessary burdens on nonpartisan, civic-minded groups that want to help people register and vote. Find out more about how these nonprofits are coping with this new challenge. The moral of this story is simple. You don't have to be a voting rights group to fight voter suppression! Read More
The Oregon Food Bank found a powerful resource to make their advocacy against hunger more effective: their clients! They recruited their clients to a committee that worked in partnership with staff. Together they decided advocacy priorities, brainstormed strategy and met with public officials and the media. The investment of resources and staff time and paid off in successful advocacy campaigns.
Their next step was to share their experience in a how-to a manual, Connecting People to Power: How Service Providers Can Mobilize Volunteers for Advocacy, written by Matt Lewis, a Bill Emerson Hunger Fellow who worked on the campaign. They have agreed to have the entire contents of the manual posted on NPAction.org. This summary has links to the chapters.
Read MoreThe Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) has published a series of "How To" guides for citizens who are building advocacy organizations. We are pleased to share these resources on NPAction. WORC is comprised of seven community organizations, located in Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, who are working together to "advance the vision of a democratic, sustainable, and just society through community action." Over 9,500 members benefit from the training, resources and issue coordination WORC provides.
Read MoreWhen tens of thousands of people fleeing Hurricane Katrina were forced to leave their pets behind, the Humane Society of the United States organized the largest animal rescue and sheltering operation in U.S. history. Now, in order to promote legislation to protect animals from harm in future disasters, the Humane Society has created eCards that share the stories and images of a few of the animals they saved. Supporters can send the eCards to others, fostering interest and support for the legislation.
Read MoreThe Coalition of Religious Communities (CORC) is a network of different religious communities in Utah working to improve the lives of low-income people through education and advocacy. Realizing that even their most passionate members can find their first visit to the state legislature an intimidating experience, CORC developed Faith Days on the Hill, an introduction to the legislative process at the Utah capitol for citizen advocates. Read More
The primary goal of greenmuseum.org is to create a resource to catalyze the environmental movement and inspire people to create more environmental art. Its founders knew that there were many artists exploring ecological issues in their work, but information about their creations was hard to come by. To improve communication and knowledge, they came up with the innovative solution: an online art museum. Projects that involve community collaboration can create lasting positive interventions and new ways for people to relate to their environment. In this way, environmental art acts as a catalyst for activism and social change by local residents. Read More
Flash Animation Provides Creative Way to Spread Advocacy Message
With so many causes competing for public attention, it can be difficult for nonprofit organizations to break through the clamor and get their message out. OpenTheGovernment.org (OTG) - a broad coalition of journalists, consumer and good government groups, environmentalists, and labor unions that focuses on making the federal government a more open place - created a flash animation video to raise the profile of government secrecy concerns. By providing an entertaining way to educate people, the flash animation drove over 42,000 visitors to OTG's website in a little over one month, and tripled the number of people signing up to receive action alerts and email messages. This technology clearly holds great promise to help nonprofit organizations spread the word and attract new supporters for their causes.
Read MoreSometimes the most effective tool for change is a face-to-face meeting with legislators. Such meetings provide an opportunity to educate elected officials about issues important to your organization and to ask for their support. Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts (N2N) works to build power in low-income and working class communities around economic justice issues. To promote these issues, N2N uses a grassroots community organizing model that includes delegation visits to educate legislators about the needs of their working class constituents. Read More
Nonprofits that are primarily dedicated to service delivery but also engage in advocacy often face the challenge of organizing populations unaccustomed to participation in the political process. Mobilization of these highly underrepresented groups into effective agents for policy change can be aided through collaboration with like-minded organizations. The DC Language Access Coalition - whose member organizations serve mainly low-income immigrants with little-to-no English skills - convinced the District of Columbia (DC) government to pass the Language Access Act, which requires all DC government agencies to develop and provide language services for DC's non-English speaking populations. The Coalition successfully wrote itself into the law to monitor implementation, ensuring that their legislative victory translates into real changes in people's lives. Read More
After over 100 years providing mental health services to California youth, the Edgewood Center for Children and Families determined that sustaining its quality of care was dependent upon getting involved in public policy. The agency’s leadership brought in a wide range of stakeholders, including board, staff, and local community members, to help redefine the mission to allow greater emphasis on advocacy. Through hard work with other nonprofits, construction of relationships with elected officials, and involvement of staff members, Edgewood quickly established itself as an important team player in California’s mental health community. The organization’s success demonstrates the power of advocacy and coalition building to increase government funding streams and generate public support for nonprofit organizations’ key service-delivery activities. Read More
Faced with the threat of severe environmental damage from expansion of mountain top removal strip mining in Tennessee, Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), a grassroots organization, came up with a unique way to get their message out and bring their issue to the top decision-maker- the Governor. In July 2004 they launched a 400 mile, 16 day boat trip from the mountain headwaters to the state capitol in Nashville to carry a "message in a bottle" — a jug of water and sediment from mining runoff that represents potential for future statewide environmental damage. Read More
In every legislative fight, there are challenges nonprofits must face. Whether it is how to frame the debate to how do you pick leadership of a coalition, most legislative advocacy efforts include these challenges. A recent legislative battle in the House provides illustration of a few issues you may encounter. Read More