advocacy for board members - community · 4/8/2019 · advocacy for board members april 8, 2019...

Advocacy for Board Members

April 8, 2019Organizational Standards Center of Excellence Board Training Webinar Series

Courtney Kohler, NCRT, CCAPSenior Associate, T/[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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• Why Community Action?

• The Board’s Role in Advocacy

• The Importance of Diversity

• Next Steps

Today’s Agenda

Key Resource: CAPLAW Board Training and Orientation Toolkit

Tells Us Why You are Here!

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Board Members:What motivated you to join a

Community Action board?

Staff:What motivated you to work for a

Community Action Agency?

Starting the Conversation

• Consider: where is your CAA – as a board and agency – along the continuum between service delivery and advocacy?

• What’s the single most impactful thing you’ve done as a board or a board member to advocate, educate, or raise awarenessabout your agency and Community Action’s anti-poverty mission?

Key Skills for Board Members

• Finance: CPAs, CFOs, business process, grants management

• Law: JDs, paralegals

• Fundraising: fundraising/development professionals, individuals with business connections, event planners

• Administration: CEOs/EDs, CAOs, HR Directors

• Research: PhDs, MDs, program evaluation, performance measurement/quality improvement

• Advocacy/outreach: Communications, community organizing/engagement

Traditional Roles of the Tripartite Board

TRIPARTITE BOARD ADMINISTERS CSBG PROGRAM AND IS FULLY

ENGAGED IN. . .

Various Ways a Board Can Be Fully Engaged and Advocate

Communicate the Mission

Engage the Community

Generate Funds

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• The history of Community Action is deeply rooted in a commitment to raising awareness of and mobilizing communities to address the causes and conditions of poverty

• The boards of Community Action Agencies were specifically designed to represent and raise up the voice of the community

• Overtime, Community Action has shifted away from community organizing and advocacy to focus on service delivery

• This can lead boards to emphasize more traditional “oversight” roles at the expense of community engagement, education, fundraising, and advocacy

We Do this Work Because We Believe in Something

• When it comes to advancing our important missions and goals, one of the most useful assets that we have available to us is something that is woefully underutilized: our voice.

• Boards have the opportunity to serve as powerful championsfor our missions.

The Power of Board Advocacy: Discussion Guide– www.standforyourmission.org

http://www.standforyourmission.org/

Debunking the MythsAdvocacy vs. Lobbying

Advocacy

• Actions that educate in attempt to influence public policy

• Successful advocacy means using our voices as committed and informed champions for our missions

• Reminding decision-makers of shared values and beliefs

• Sharing tested solutions to community problems

• Helping community leaders understand the impact of their decisions

Lobbying

• A form of advocacy focused specifically on influencing legislation

• For example, lobbying is asking legislators to support or oppose specific legislation or asking the public to urge their legislators to do so.



• 1. Create a shared vision for the future

• 2. Develop a deeper understanding of the work

• 3. Decide where to start

• 4. Leverage the power of partnership

• 5. Making advocacy a part of your Board’s culture


Steps to Using the Mission to Identify your Advocacy Role as a Board


But How?

FAST & EASY WAYS TO BE AN ADVOCATE• In 15 Seconds... You could share an article or blog post about a current issue

related to Community Action to your friends and followers on social media.• In 1 Minute... You could order voter registrations forms for your program

waiting area.• In 5 Minutes... You could invite an elected official to visit your program or

attend an event while they are in district.• In 10 Minutes... You could write an e-mail or a letter to an elected official,

sharing why you care about a current issue and how it impacts your community.

• In 30 Minutes... You could read about current policies affecting food insecurity, and look up statistics about hunger and poverty in your community.

• In 45 Minutes... You could meet with an elected official or their staff at their office to share how important CAA programs are to the people you serve.

• In 1 Hour... You could write an op-ed or letter to the editor of your local newspaper, highlighting the CAA’s Community Needs Assessment data and how others can get involved in advocacy.

Agency Advocacy Toolkit – www.philabundance.org

http://www.philabundance.org/

But How?

• Data & Storytelling–Balance Data & Stories

–Use real stories of people with lived experience (with permission)

• Be Respectful

• Avoid Reinforcing Stereotypes

• Use Consent and Permission Forms

• Match Data to Stories

• Keep it Simple

• Use Reliable Data

Agency Advocacy Toolkit – www.philabundance.org


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Engage the Community

Connecting with Community ExerciseFill in the Blank

• Empowering the low-income community

– Ex., our tripartite board _______________________________

• Effectively advocating for the organization and its mission– Ex., our tripartite board________________________________

• Collecting and providing input on community needs– Ex., our tripartite board________________________________

• Developing and sustaining strategic partnerships and collaborations– Ex., our tripartite board________________________________

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• Organization demonstrates low-income individuals’ participation in its activities.

CSBG Org. Standard 1.1

• Organization has documented or demonstrated partnerships across the community, for specifically identified purposes; partnerships include other anti-poverty orgs in the area.


• Organization communicates its activities and its results to the community.


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CSBG Organizational StandardsCommunity Engagement

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Generate Funds

Two Main Ways CAAs Generate Funds

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Fundraising

Soliciting gifts

Putting on special events

Capital campaigns

Proposals

Writing grants

Preparing bid proposals

Board and executive director Executive director and staff*

*

*

*

Generating Funds Quiz

A CAA cannot rely solely on its state and federal grants and should engage in efforts to generate unrestricted funds.

True or False

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A CAA cannot rely solely on its state and federal grants and should engage in efforts to generate unrestricted funds.

True or False

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Why?

State and federal grants restrict use of funds

Diversification of funding often essential for sustainability and flexibility


Generating funds is mainly the executive director’s responsibility, not the board’s.

True or False

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Generating funds is mainly the executive director’s responsibility, not the board’s.

True or False

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Why?

Joint effort – both bring different resources/skills

If no unrestricted funds, board must spearhead fundraising efforts


Tripartite boards cannot require members to give financially to the CAA because low-income representatives may be low-income themselves.

True or False

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Tripartite boards cannot require members to give financially to the CAA because low-income representatives may be low-income themselves.

True or False

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Why?

No legal prohibition against soliciting funds from allboard members

Allow for varying levels of giving and non-financial ways to give

Foundations often want to see 100% board giving

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BOARD’S ROLE IN

FUNDRAISING

Work with staff to develop plan

Oversee implementation of

plan

Identify potential funders

Organize & participate in special events

Develop & nurture

relationships

“The fact is that if you want to build teams or organizations

capable of innovating, you need diversity. Diversity enhances creativity. It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading to better decision making and problem

solving. Diversity can improve the bottom line of companies and lead to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations. Even

simply being exposed to diversity can change the way you think.

”Phillips, Katherine W. 2014. “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” Scientific American,

October 1, 2014. www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter

The Importance of Diversity

https://koyapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/KOYA_GovernanceGap_FINAL.pdf

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter



• Ideally, CAA Board should be representative of Service Area that the agency serves.

Gaps at Staff and Board Level People of color are currently 36 percent of the US population and are

expected to grow to 50 percent as early as 2042, and become “minority white” by as early as 2045. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, at

least 60 percent of nonprofits serve people of color. However, multiple surveys exploring diversity and representation at the staff level show that

whites lead 9.5 out of 10 philanthropic organizations. Only 7 percent of nonprofit chief executives and 18 percent of nonprofit employees are

people of color.



Its not that people don’t care…

So, Why?

The Governance Gap survey reveals it’s not because of a lack of understanding about why diversity is important. Nor is it a lack of desire to be diverse. Instead, our survey points to a lack of knowledge, skills, resources, and genuine commitment to change.




Next StepsHow can the board build on or begin work on Advocacy:

• Create your Advocacy Plan

• Developing a policy agenda or strengthening an existing one

• Starting or supporting a campaign on a specific policy or issue

• Connecting with other collaboratives, coalitions, or organizations

• Strengthening advocacy goals in the strategic plan

• Engaging elected officials and policy makers through convenings, presentations, and other outreach

• Strengthening board capacity to engage in advocacy and fundraising efforts

• Ensure you have the right people on board

Resources

• Philanthropy Advocacy Playbook -www.bolderadvocacy.org/PLAYBOOK

• CAPLAW Board Training Toolkit -https://caplaw.org/resources/PublicationDocuments/TrainingToolforNonprofitBoards.html

• The Power of Board Advocacy: Discussion Guide–www.standforyourmission.org

• Agency Advocacy Toolkit – www.philabundance.org

• The Governance Gap - Koya Partners: https://koyapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/KOYA_GovernanceGap_FINAL.pdf

http://www.bolderadvocacy.org/PLAYBOOK

https://caplaw.org/resources/PublicationDocuments/TrainingToolforNonprofitBoards.html




Racial Equity & Immigration Resources

https://communityactionpartnership.com/resources-for-serving-immigrant-migrant-families/

https://communityactionpartnership.com/resources-for-serving-immigrant-migrant-families/

Community Action Partnership YouTube Channel-Board Videos

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMVDY93WCekqzYtF_TUostM98dBD1il3T

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMVDY93WCekqzYtF_TUostM98dBD1il3T

Partnership and ANCRT ROMA for Boards Series

https://moodle.communityactionpartnership.com/course/index.php?categoryid=25

https://moodle.communityactionpartnership.com/course/index.php?categoryid=25

Contact Information

Courtney Kohler | MPA, CCAP, NCRTSenior Associate of T/TA

[email protected]

Dr. Jarle Crocker | PhD, CCAP, NCRTDirector of T/TA

[email protected]

This presentation was created by the National Association of Community Action Agencies – Community Action Partnership, in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Grant Number, 90ET0465. Any

opinion, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

