Making a difference with what you have

Integrating Advocacy into Direct Service

What is advocacy? Why advocacy? What is your vision? What would it take,

beyond your services, to realize it? What are you already doing that is—or

could be—advocacy?

Nonprofits and Advocacy We can advocate. We can even lobby. By failing to advocate, we leave a political

vacuum that endangers those we serve. We need ways to weave advocacy into our work

and leverage our capacities, because we are almost uniformly strained.

There are resources to help.

Weighing Advocacy

Risks Add social change

work to to-do list Make some donors

mad by taking on tough issues

Need to track lobbying expenses if 501(c)3

Need to raise outside funds if federally-funded

Benefits Practice consistently with

Code of Ethics Change core conditions

that create and perpetuate need

Engage clients in creating their own change

Reduce burnout Build new alliances with

partners Raise organizational

profile

What is advocacy capacity? Technical capacity Management capacity Leadership capacity

CEO and Board buy-in Visioning and strategic alignment

Adaptive capacity What makes the most difference, in the

long run, between advocacy success and failure

Well-run organizations are better poised for advocacy, but overall capacity doesn’t always equate with advocacy engagement

Assessing Advocacy Capacity Social workers know that success starts with

assessment, engagement, and a plan—advocacy is no different!

Building Movement Project Organizational Assessment

Bolder Advocacy (AFJ) Advocacy Capacity Tool http://bolderadvocacy.org/tools-for-effective-

advocacy/advocacy-capacity-tool

Gauging Your Advocacy Capacity

What are your strengths? What are your areas of greatest need?

Where did you score your organization? Where did others in your organization score it? Where might your constituents?

Where do you want to be in 12 months? In 5 years?

More Assessment Review job descriptions

Where is there advocacy by another name? Where can advocacy be articulated, and woven into current responsibilities? Where can your Board live their commitment to your organization through their advocacy?

Review strategic plans Where is advocacy reflected? Where and how is advocacy

needed in order to reach these goals? How might you use your advocacy skills to influence the strategic planning process, so that it supports more advocacy and social change work?

Review “client flow”/service process Where can advocacy be incorporated into existing

programming? Where can programming advance advocacy goals? How can your services model empowerment? Where are you missing opportunities to turn clients into advocates?

It can be done—Case Studies What were the catalysts for change within this

organization? How did they trigger these changes? What obstacles were overcome in the transformation? How have social change activities enhanced the social services work? And vice versa? What lessons do you take from this organization for your own context? Family and Children’s Services Hill Country Bread for the City St. John’s Well Child and Family Center The Friendly Center

Getting Started—30 minutes/week Introduce yourself to your state senator/ representative. Call them to give them a

brief overview of your organization, your issues, and your top two or three state policy priorities. Call them once a month. They will remember you.

Add every policymaker who represents you, your organization, or your clients to your newsletter distribution list. Send a note, at least the first few times, inviting him/her to visit you.

Be intentional about collecting at least one good story a week, that illustrates the challenges facing your clients or communicates the power of your work. Then practice telling them.

Call the offices of your congressional delegation, and ask for the staffer who deals with legislation relating to your core issue (mental health, immigration, affordable housing…). Introduce yourself, explain your organization, ask to be put on the member’s mailing list, and express your interest in 1-2 pieces of legislation, or at least topic areas, of interest to you.

Join the electronic networks of 1-2 good national organizations working on policy issues in your area of interest. Sign up to receive their email alerts, and set aside 10 minutes a week to scan through them for action alerts. Even better, call the person who sends them out, explain your particular priorities, and ask for suggestions about what you can do to be helpful to move that legislation. They’ll be overjoyed. Then you can do it, and they’ll be especially eager to make sure you get good information funneled to you.

Everyone can find 30 minutes a week!

Add a policy update to your Board report. Highlight 1 policy issue at each Board meeting, with an action step that Board members can take to advance that effort. Put it in the minutes, and ask for reports back from Board members at the next meeting.

Add a “take action” section to your website and use that area to post an advocacy alert periodically, or when there is a particularly urgent issue. If you use social media as part of your organization’s online presence, make an effort to have at least 25% of your content related to advocacy issues (it boosts your social media presence, anyway, to talk about things other than just your organization!).

Write a letter to the editor. It will be more likely to be printed if you respond to a critical incident or recent coverage.

Encourage your clients to advocate for themselves. Advocacy is part of an organization’s culture, and you can give people a venue in which to practice their power.

Get to know the rule makers. Build relationships with the agency bureaucrats at the federal and state levels who write the rules to implement the policies that govern work in your area. Introduce yourself at conferences, keep records from your interactions, let them know that you’re interested in the rules around ________ (fill in the blank issue). A lot of policy gets made after the bills are signed.

Review your agency’s policies to identify areas of potential reform—sometimes, our own policies are part of the problem, and demonstrating a willingness to assess this, and to make changes, models the potential impact of advocacy for those we serve.

Making the Connection—Case to Cause Social workers can (and must!) advocate as part of our practice,

but we have the greatest impact when we make the connection between our direct services and our advocacy goals. Think about the policy implications of your work. Do you have a great

event coming up that would highlight the need for more early childhood education funding? Send an invitation to your legislator. Do your program outcomes suggest that a particular approach deserves priority? Send a report to your member of Congress. Good advocacy doesn’t necessarily mean a lot more work, but it requires a different way of thinking about how we can harness the resources—money, attention, and political will—that we need to make this a healthier, safer, and more prosperous community.

How do you answer the question, “What do you do again?” That’s an opportunity for advocacy, tell the story of your work that makes others commit to your cause.

Form a colleague ‘case to cause’ group that meets a few times a year to talk about common concerns facing clients and how to address them through policy (can become the basis for your agency’s legislative priorities)

Include voter registration with your agency’s intake materials, and make sure that all your staff and Board members are registered to vote (at their current addresses!) AND have information about the importance of the election for the issues on which you work.

Your Plan What should you do first? Who will be allies? What do you anticipate as the greatest stumbling

blocks? How can advocacy align with your organization’s

other interests? Are there particular strategies that will serve your purposes better than others?

What are you most excited about? Most worried? Who inspires you? Where can you find mentors?

Resources to Help Bolder Advocacy: www.bolderadvocacy.org Alliance for Justice: www.afj.org Building Movement Project:

www.buildingmovement.org Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest:

www.clpi.org Classroom to Capitol: www.melindaklewis.com