Nonprofit Advocacy, Community Organizing Benefit Impoverished Communities in Four Southern States, Study Finds
Philanthropy News Digest
May 12, 2011
Advocacy by nonprofit organizations generated more than $4.7 billion in benefits to low-wage workers and other vulnerable communities between 2005 and 2009, a new study commissioned by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy finds.
The report, Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in the Gulf/Midsouth Region (88 pages, PDF), examined the impact of twenty advocacy and community organizing groups in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and found that every dollar invested in their policy and civic engagement activities returned $114 to the community in the form of higher wages, new affordable housing, and other benefits for low-income families, people with disabilities, and other underserved populations. Residents of the four states also benefitted from policy changes that cannot be monetized, including protection of minority and immigrant rights and environmental policies.
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