Nonprofit Advocacy

We are committed to defending the advocacy and lobbying rights of nonprofits and foundations. We have encouraged infrastructure development and effective giving for public policy and advocacy.

In 2004, we helped successfully fight restrictions in the state employees' charitable campaigns of the governments of Minnesota and Texas, among others, that would have eliminated contributions to advocacy-oriented nonprofits.

We also joined the Alliance for Justice and Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest as a key opponent of proposed Federal Elections Commission regulations that would have substantially chilled nonprofit advocacy initiatives. Similarly, we joined with many organizations in critically commenting on the Treasury Department's "voluntary" guidelines on international giving. We have spoken out about the counterproductive anti-terrorism certifications required of charities participating in the Combined Federal Campaign.

More recently, we completed a series of reports that illustrate the monetary and quantifiable benefits from nonprofit advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement.

 

Recent Initiatives

	Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact This is the first ever set of measurable guidelines for foundations and institutional grantmakers to operate ethically and maximize the impact of their dollars.
	Grantmaking for Community Impact Project Learn about the positive impact that communities have seen through funder-supported nonpartisan policy and community engagement in seven sites across the country on issues ranging from poverty and homelessness to education and environmental justice.
	High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy Grantmakers focusing on arts and culture, education, environment,  health and other issues can boost their impact by thinking about who benefits from their giving and how policy and community engagement might help them address the root causes of the social problems they care about.
	Philanthropy's Promise Celebrates many of the country’s most innovative and influential grantmaking institutions that seek to maximize the effectiveness of their grants and generate the greatest impact in their communities.

 

Related Publications

Community-Based Public Foundations: Small Beacons for Big Ideas

January 2004

Community-Based Public Foundations (CBPFs) are democratic philanthropic grantmaking institutions, functioning as partnerships between donors and community activists, committed to supporting the work of community-based nonprofit organizations engaged in progressive social change organizing addressing the root causes of inequality, lack of opportunity, discrimination and political and economic powerlessness experienced by disadvantaged and disenfranchised populations in our society.

Advocacy for Social Change in Metropolitan Washington

September 2003

With the support of the Washington Grantmakers' Community Capacity fund, NCRP surveyed local and regional advocacy groups in the metropolitan Washington area and looked into the advocacy infrastructure in the region.

A Democratic Landscape Funding Social Change in California

April 2000

This report highlights how foundations and nonprofit groups influence progressive social and economic policy in California.