BLOG for ADVOCATES

We created this blog to share interesting advocacy related items that cross our desks. It can be anything from new research on funding for advocacy to examples of unusual advocacy strategies. If you have an item to share please send it to npaction@npaction.org.
NPAction Staff

Friday, December 18, 2009

The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) has recently released Strengthening Civic Impact: An Evaluation of Nonprofit Public Policy Trainings, a report considering whether advocacy trainings caused participants to explore public policy as a strategy with their organization. The trainings were conducted by CLPI Fellows between 2004 and 2008. The new report details "lessons on barriers and success stories that provide promising guidance for future efforts."

Given the social and economic crisis facing underserved Americans and civil society, effective public policy involvement by the nation's almost 1 million charities is as important as ever. To meet this need with limited resources, funders and charities seek practical ways to evaluate strategies for increasing nonprofit policy capacity and impact. We believe this report represents one practical example of nonprofit policy evaluation moving forward.

They found that the trainings increased an understanding of using lobbying as a way to help achieve organizational missions. The report also notes that many cited limited staff, funding, and time as the main reasons for not incorporating more policy involvement.