Free webinar on this topic on May 9th.

A recent email:

Did you know that less than half the percentage of nonprofits advocate or lobby today than were doing so 20 years ago? That’s an alarming finding in [our] recent research report.

When nonprofits sit on the sidelines of policy debates, we leave our power on the table and forfeit opportunities to educate leaders — particularly policymakers — about our missions, community needs, and transformative policy recommendations that improve lives and strengthen society. 

You’re invited to join a diverse focus group of nonprofit leaders to share recommendations for policy and practice change….

How do you feel in your body when you read this?

How motivated might the average nonprofit CEO or board member feel to engage with advocacy after reading this?  

Bad.
Not.

Those are my answers to my questions. I feel depressed when I read all of these failing report card-like descriptions of nonprofits and advocacy. I can’t imagine that busy nonprofit leaders would read this and feel motivated to rally the troops to do something that most people aren’t. Behavioral sciences teach us to use social proof to encourage action: others are doing it, and you could be cool just like them. Why are some of the largest advocacy proponents doing the opposite: “Few are doing it, but you should do it anyway”?

Here are three ways to get nonprofits to engage in advocacy:

1. Motivate them appropriately

There are two kinds of motivation: motivation to do and motivation to learn. Negative emotions might make someone angry and serve as a call to action to do (like vote or protest). It is much harder to use negative emotions to get someone to learn. Learning takes time and sustained effort. If our goal is to get nonprofit folks to learn about advocacy, our best bet is to invite them into an positive experience that will leave them feeling competent and confident. 

2. Recognize brain capacity

Cognitive overload is real. How do busy nonprofit people remember what they need to know about lobbying etc. when it is complicated and not their day job? When we tell them everything, they remember nothing… except that they could get into trouble if they mess up. One of the rules we use in instructional design is to give participants “just enough information” to be able to take action on something. Too little information and they won’t know what to do. Too much information and they are overwhelmed.

I still love the graphic Meps Schulte created when we designed an advocacy curriculum in Washington State. Rather than think about the advocacy as a monolith, we can break it down into three parts and think of it as a house to be explored. There’s Everyday Advocacy, which is basically keeping your house tidy to be able to engage in advocacy conversations. There’s Urgent Advocacy when the roof has a leak or a neighbor offers a free refrigerator—or when a policy threat or opportunity emerges. There’s Step-It-Up Advocacy when you need to move from education to lobbying to get something more expansive done, much like a family might build an addition to welcome a new child. We can chunk information and share it only as needed, making advocacy approachable like coming over to a tidy house for a hot cup of tea.

3. Emphasize practice over knowledge

Finally, we can think more about the two elements that motivate people: the desire to feel competent and confident. So much advocacy training is focused on teaching what there is to know. Competence and confidence come through practice. We can create experiences and tools that support the practice of advocacy skills in all of the places nonprofit people meet: board meetings, coalition meetings, conferences, funder meetings, etc. As we’ve built advocacy curriculum for a few nonprofit state associations, we’ve focused on the small actions people can take to build their advocacy skill.


It’s been nearly 10 years since I first saw this “board members are failing to engage in advocacy work” storyline in the Leading With Intent report. Let’s spend the next ten years recognizing that nonprofit staff and board members are people who have courageously stepped forward to serve their communities despite all the challenges. When it comes to advocacy, we need them to do one more courageous thing—add a few advocacy tools to their toolbelt. Let’s reframe how we talk about risk, leading with the opportunities that may be afforded if they lift their voices. Let’s invite them to practice advocacy everywhere we can.