The word advocacy can mean many different things in the nonprofit world and can be at the heart of activities, strategies, mission, core values and overall organizational effectiveness. Fundamentally, advocacy is about speaking out and making a case for something important. The target of the advocate's voice is most often a person, group or institution that holds some power over what the advocate wants.

Advocacy can be a challenging concept because there is no one set of instructions about where to begin, how to begin and what constitutes effectiveness. Moreover, our lexicon for advocacy related concepts and actions complicates matters by using multiple words for the same actions as well as blurring understanding of what an organization is really doing. For example, the word "advocacy" is often used interchangeably with related words such as "lobbying," and "education." Some groups may use the word advocacy to define lobbying while others say they do advocacy work but an outsider is not certain whether they are engaged in public policy or advocating on behalf of clients or their mission in other ways.

The relationship between advocacy and civic participation is worth discussing. Public policy advocacy may be viewed as part of the broader concept of "civic participation." For example, a person might participate as a member of their town water board but not be specifically advocating positions when they join. However, like any public body, the person will probably advocate for and against proposals as part of their civic responsibilities.

Advocacy efforts often overlap these categories. For example, when a nonprofit lobbies for increased appropriations from the state legislature for services they provide, their efforts benefit their own programs but also the field of organizations that provide similar services.

"Advocacy" may not always fall under the rubric of civic participation because one might be advocating for their child's right under the policies of a school, or a social worker working to secure food stamp rights for a low-income family.