GCIP Resources

Resource List for Funding Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement

 

Alliance for Justice

AFJ has produced several publications that help foundation leaders understand the tax code and legal issues related to nonprofit advocacy and provide tools for funding and evaluating advocacy and organizing:

Annie E. Casey Foundation

A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy, by Reisman, Gienapp, and Stachowaik, jointly published by Organizational Research Services and Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2007, can be downloaded from the website. The guide was developed to determine meaningful ways to measure and evaluate the impact of the foundation’s advocacy and public policy grantmaking. This guide also serves as a broad call to grantmakers to build and advance the field of evaluation in this area. Past issues of AdvoCasey, a quarterly newsletter formerly published by the foundation, are available on the website, as well as other advocacy tools related to children and family issues.

Association of Small Foundations (ASF)

ASF and the Alliance for Justice co-authored a primer, Funding and Engaging in Advocacy: Opportunities for Small Foundations. Information about the publication can be found on the website.

The Atlantic Philanthropies

In 2008, The Atlantic Philanthropies issued a report, Investing in Change: Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations. It is available for download on their website, where there are links to other advocacy resources and a list of foundations that support advocacy.

Blueprint R&D

In 2005, Blueprint R&D published The Challenge of Assessing Policy and Advocacy Activities: Strategies for a Prospective Evaluation Approach.   Blueprint R&D’s website has many resources for foundations to measure the impacts of policy advocacy.

Building Movement Project

The Building Movement Project has developed a guide to help nonprofit service providers incorporate social change strategies into their work. Social Service and Social Change: A Process Guide, co-authored by Linda Campbell and Frances Kunreuther, introduces a step-by-step process that nonprofit organizations can use to identify how to address systemic problems through social change work within the context of their usual services and activities, and how to decide which strategies and actions will work best for them. It includes case examples, exercises, and resources to use along the way. The guide, which also may be useful for foundations that give grants to service organizations, can be downloaded for free here.

Alliances for Change: Organizing for the 21st Century, part of the Social Service & Social Change series, examines workers' centers, youth-based action groups and urban justice organizations as they reflect on lessons learned and engage in an analysis of their work. Authored by Marnie Brady, Alliances for Change documents the ways in which 11 organizations are ensuring their community organizing and advocacy work is relevant and responsive in the early 21st century and building long-term bases of power to sustain their ongoing work. The report is available for free download here.

The California Endowment

The California Endowment has an advocacy toolkit on its website as well as links to two reports it commissioned, written by Blueprint Research and Design: The Challenge of Assessing Advocacy: Parts I and II. In January 2009, the foundation hosted Advocacy Evaluation Advances, a national convening on advocacy and policy evaluation attended by funders, advocates and evaluators. Materials from the convening are available on the foundation's website: http://www.calendow.org/Article.aspx?id=3774.

Center for Community Change (CCC)

Center for Community Change builds the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change their communities and public policies for the better. CCC's website has information about the Campaign for Community Values, specific issue campaigns, reports on advocacy and organizing across a broad range of topics, and a section on its leadership development program.

Center for Evaluation Innovation
The Center was formed to help build the field of evaluation in multiple areas that are challenging to measure and where traditional evaluation approaches are not a good fit. This includes advocacy and policy change efforts, systems change and communications. Currently the main focus of the Center is advocacy evaluation. The Center conducts new research, shares developments in the field, develops trainings, convenes funders, advocates and evaluators, and identifies helpful resources.

Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI)

CLPI and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation jointly produced the online publication, Effective Advocacy at ALL Levels of Government.

Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy

Housed at the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning and Development, the Center has produced numerous relevant publications under its director, Professor James M. Ferris. These include the book Foundations and Public Policy: Leveraging Philanthropic Dollars, Knowledge and Networks for Greater Impact, published by the Foundation Center (2009) and the paper Foundation Strategy for Social Impact; A System Change Perspective (May 2009). The paper explores what system change means in the context of foundation strategy and examines how foundations can design strategies that create transformative rather than incremental change. The paper can be downloaded on the center's website.

COMM-ORG

COMM-ORG is a website managed by Randy Stoecker at the University of Wisconsin that provides a wealth of information about community organizing theory and practice, including listings of organizations, funders, scholarly papers and book reviews, and other resources. The COMM-ORG listserve is an email forum to share updates, spark discussions, and ask questions about the field of organizing.

Community Organizing Networks

Council on Foundations (COF)

COF has a publication available entitled Top 10 Ways Private Foundations Can Influence Public Policy that provides information about ways foundations can legally influence public policy through such activities as educating legislators, funding advocacy organizations, educating the public about issues, and promoting civic participation.

Fieldstone Alliance

Fieldstone Alliance published Power in Policy: A Funder's Guide to Advocacy and Civic Participation, edited by David F. Arons and written primarily by foundation practitioners for foundations. This book shares insights, lessons, and perspectives from foundation leaders and legal and philanthropic experts on how to engage in, talk about, and incorporate advocacy into philanthropy. It presents clearly and concisely key policy principles, legal rules, and evaluation methods and provides a toolkit for foundations to develop the capacity to engage in advocacy at their own speed and resource level.

Foundation Center

In conjunction with the Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at the University of Southern California, the Foundation Center published Foundations and Public Policy: Leveraging Philanthropic Dollars, Knowledge, and Networks for Greater Impact, James M. Ferris, editor (2009). In 2005, the Foundation Center and Independent Sector published Social Justice Grantmaking, a thorough analysis of the extent of giving for social justice in the United States. An updated report is expected to be released in 2009.

Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP)

FCCP and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)each provide resources and tools for funders interested in supporting effective civic engagement strategies.

GrantCraft

This project of the Ford Foundation published Advocacy Funding: The Philanthropy of Changing Minds, by Tony Proscio (2005). In 2009 Grantcraft released Funding Community Organizing: Social Change through Civic Participation, by Craig McGarvey and Anne Mackinnon, produced in partnership with the Linchpin Campaign of the Center for Community Change.

Grantmakers for Education (GFE)

Grantmakers for Education’s mission is to strengthen philanthropy's capacity to improve educational outcomes for all students.In 2005, GFE held an institute on public policy for education grantmakers, and published a report: Foundation Strategies For Influencing Education Policy: A Seminar For Education Grantmakers.

Grantmakers in Health (GIH)

GIH is dedicated to helping grantmakers improve the health of all people. GIH works to build understanding between health grantmakers and policymakers and helps support grantmakers in their efforts to fund policy-relevant projects. GIH communicates with health grantmakers about the relevance of public policy to their work, provides opportunities for grantmakers to learn more about specific health policy issues, and provides training and technical assistance to grantmakers about funding policy-related work. Grantmakers in Health published Strategies for Shaping Public Policy: a Guide for Health Funders by Malcolm V. Williams (2000).

Grassroots Grantmakers

Grassroots Grantmakers is a funder affinity group that focuses on supporting funders who invest in resident controlled associations. They have a variety of tools and publications on their website.

Harvard Family Research Project

The Evaluation Exchange Spring 2007 issue is devoted to the topic of advocacy and policy evaluation.

Independent Sector

Written in 1999 by Bob Smucker and published by Independent Sector, The Nonprofit Lobbying Guide demonstrates the many ways charitable organizations can use lobbying to advance their causes in federal, state, and local legislatures.

Innovative Network (Innonet)

Innonet maintains an online advocacy evaluation resource center and offers a free e-newsletter, Advocacy Evaluation Update.

Interfaith Funders

Interfaith Funders (IF) is a network of faith-based and secular grantmakers working to advance the field of congregation-based community organizing (CBCO) in order to strengthen demo cracy and justice.IF has commissioned research that documents the breadth of the CBCO field and examines community organizing and congregational development.

Institute for Southern Studies

The Institute for Southern Studies serves as a resource for grassroots activists, community leaders, scholars, policy makers and others working to bring lasting social and economic change to the southern region. The Institute hosts several research and education programs; is home to several sponsored projects; and publishes the journal Southern Exposure as well as the online magazine Facing South. In March 2009, the Institute published Social Justice Organizing in the South: The Southern Scan Research Project, in conjunction with the Hill-Snowdon and New World Foundations. The report is one of the most in-depth looks at the state of organizing in the South today, highlighting key trends, hopeful signs and elements of a new "Southern Strategy."

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP)

In March 2009, NCRP released the Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact, by Niki Jagpal. The chapter on Values discusses the importance of funding advocacy, organizing and civic engagement that benefits marginalized communities, broadly defined. Information about NCRP's Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP), including reports documenting the impact of advocacy, organizing and civic engagement work, are available on the website. NCRP also has a selection of persuasive articles by funders and advocates about why funding for systemic change is important and provides a real bang for the buck.

National Conference on Citizenship

NCoC produces an annual Civic Health Index, which measures a wide variety of indicators relating to Americans' engagement in civic life. Each year NCOC's report explores a topical aspect of civic health. The index and report are a cooperative effort of the NCoC, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, and Harvard University's Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, as well as a Civic Health Index Working Group.

National Council of Nonprofits (NCN)

This umbrella organization for state nonprofit associations and individual nonprofits has an advocacy section of its website with links to resources and information about policy issues that affect the nonprofit sector. Any visitor to the website can sign up to receive Nonprofit Policy News, a free monthly e-newsletter. The Nonprofit Congress, an initiative of NCN, mobilizes nonprofit leaders across the country to act collectively for positive change (www.nonprofitcongress.org ).

Neighborhood Funders Group

In 2001 NFG produced a comprehensive, easy-to-read guidebook, Community Organizing Toolbox: A Funder’s Guide to Community Organizing, by Larry Parachini and Sally Covington.

New Philanthropy Capital

In December 2008, they issued a special report Critical masses: Social campaigning, a guide for donors and funders, which “explores the role of campaigning charities and highlights the significant part they can play in changing legislation and shifting attitudes."

OMB Watch

OMB Watch has a section of its website devoted to nonprofit advocacy issues, and NP Action is a project of OMB Watch that serves as an online resource that provides tools and information for nonprofit advocacy. Gary Bass, Executive Director of OMB Watch, also has an advocacy blog.

Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)

PACE and Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) each provide resources and tools for funders interested in supporting effective civic engagement strategies.

Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC)

PRRAC provides an online internet guide to community organizing by Shayna Strom available at the link above.

Public Interest Projects

Public Interest Projects (PIP) brings together and strengthens the work of philanthropic institutions, nonprofit groups and other public interest organizations sharing a vision of a society that ensures justice, dignity and opportunity for all people. PIP manages six collaborative funds: American Dream Fund, Communities for Public Education Reform, Four Freedoms Fund, Fulfilling the Dream Fund, Racial Justice Collaborative and U.S. Human Rights Fund.

Pushback Network

The Pushback Network is a national collaboration of grassroots organizations and networks committed to building bottom-up, state-based alliances that change both the composition and levels of participation of the electorate, emphasizing strategies that empower underrepresented constituencies - people of color, poor and working class communities and young people.

TCC Group

The TCC Group develops strategies and programs to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations, philanthropies and corporate citizenship programs to achieve social impact. In January, 2009 the TCC Group published What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization: A Framework for Determining Advocacy Capacity for the California Endowment. The paper is intended to guide nonprofits seeking to engage in advocacy, foundations that want to expand their advocacy grantmaking, and evaluators that assess advocacy efforts. http://www.tccgrp.com/pdfs/EffectiveAdvocacy_final.pdf

W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)

W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest jointly produced the online publication, Effective Advocacy at ALL Levels of Government.

Women's Funding Network

Women's Funding Network developed Making the CaseTM, a tool to measure and evaluate social change, in response to an increasing demand among member funds. The evaluation tool was field tested and refined with member funds and grantees, and the latest public version was launched in 2005.

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