Sometimes, in our efforts to uncover root causes of the problems our nonprofit seeks to address, we learn that there are existing laws, regulations or public and corporate policies that hurt the people we serve. We can then take action through advocacy to change or eliminate such laws, regulations and policies.
But . . . . One of the biggest mistakes nonprofit board members make is deciding not to engage in advocacy because they believe they're prohibited by law from doing so.
This is simply not true. Advocacy is one of the most effective tools nonprofits and foundations can use to advance their mission and serve their communities. The term "advocacy" includes broader advocacy efforts, legislative lobbying and non-partisan, election-related activities. And the combination of advocacy and direct services can dramatically increase the mission impact of any nonprofit. Advocacy is all about your organization's work and what it will take to advance it.
This webinar session is for board members of nonprofits that are not currently engaged in issue advocacy and public policy work but are open to exploring the idea and seek credible information on this critical topic. The session will also be useful to leaders who want to increase their board's current commitment to advocacy. The webinar will address:
- What is advocacy?
- Why nonprofits need to engage in such advocacy efforts
- What the law allows tax exempt nonprofits to do
- Organizational entry points for making the decision to engage in advocacy
- Specific roles that board members can play
- Examples of service provider nonprofits that have made the decision to engage in advocacy
- Overview of organizations and proven resources that can help
The session will feature the BoardSource Stand for Your Mission Campaign and the process outlined in the campaign discussion guide for boards. The session will also describe the internal board decision process to move forward on advocacy.
Webinar Presenter: Frank Martinelli, The Center for Public Skills Training Frank has over 35 years of work, training and consulting experience with a variety of nonprofit and public sector organizations. He is president of the Center for Public Skills Training where he specializes in strategic planning, governing board development and community partnership and alliance building. During this time, over 35,000 professional staff, board and other volunteer leaders have benefited from Frank's practical, results-oriented training and consultation. Since the fall of 2016 with a TEDx talk delivered in Milwaukee, Frank has been working to build out the Nonprofit Repositioning Initiative. The Nonprofit Repositioning Initiative aims to provide training, technical assistance network building opportunities, and other resources to increase capacity of nonprofits to deepen impact at the underlying systems level and provide more permanent solutions to community problems. The Initiative will also offer strategies to overcome common internal and external barriers to systems change work by nonprofits
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