Charities See Value in Advocacy
By Lori Sturdevant
Opinion Exchange
Star Tribune
Minnesota charities that add political organizing and lobbying to their portfolio of good works greatly magnify their results. That's the finding of a study released this week by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a watchdog group that has developed a method for quantifying the return on philanthropic dollars spent on public-sector advocacy.
That methodology produced a result that seems too good to be true: For every dollar the 15 nonprofit organizations studied spent on grassroots organizing and advocacy, $138 was generated in benefits to Minnesota communities. Those organizations are credited with securing additional state and local government funding for transit, public education, mental health services, affordable housing, teen pregnancy prevention and more.
Even if a more conventional economic analysis produced a result half as large, it would still be a compelling argument for the mixing of good works with issue-based, nonpartisan political action.
