A study released last year showed that only one-third of nonprofit board members engage in basic advocacy: working with the charity’s leaders to educate policy makers about the organization’s mission and services.
That’s a big problem, experts say. Board members often have connections that make them more likely to come into contact with elected officials at social or other events, as well as the kind of community clout that makes lawmakers more likely to listen to them.
“To me board members are really the secret sauce that make things happen,” says Tim Delaney, president of the National Council of Nonprofits. “They have the added juice that paid [nonprofit] staffers don’t, not because they’re slick, but because they care, they’re influential, and they’re constituents.”
Some trustees may be reluctant to pitch their organization’s work to lawmakers because they believe nonprofit boards are not allowed to advocate. That isn’t true, says Anne Wallestad, chief executive of BoardSource, an organization that seeks to improve nonprofit governance.
One way to bust that myth is to help your trustees understand the distinctions between lobbying and advocacy, said Mr. Delaney. Another is to give nonprofits the tools to know what their trustees can and cannot do.
Charities should create formal policies on advocacy to “clearly define the levels of engagement that are appropriate and what are not,” says Ms. Wallestad.
There are a number of free resources to help board members and nonprofit executives understand advocacy, including one recently launched by BoardSource called Stand for Your Mission, which provides tools and guidelines to help charities make the pro-advocacy case to board members.
“Sometimes organizations and trustees fall victim to waiting until they feel 100 percent comfortable to dip a toe in advocacy,” Ms. Wallestad says. “But there’s no time like the present to make sure lawmakers understand the work your organization does.”
Prepping for Success
Trustee-led advocacy “should be expected because everything today is so interconnected,” said Margaret Ferguson, a board member at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore since 1999. “If your institution is going to be strong and grow, it’s going to need broad connections in the community.”
Of course, you can’t just tell trustees that advocacy is legal, hand them copies of your policy, and expect them to be engaged and effective advocates. Nonprofit leaders need to set their trustees up for success.
A good way to start is to make sure board members understand which public-policy decisions might help or hinder the organization’s work.
Ms. Wallestad says it is also important to educate trustees about any public agencies the nonprofit has partnered with and how much government support the charity has received or gets now.
“Trustees should also know where the organization is stuck or being held back and where it could take a leap forward through advocacy efforts,” she says.
Building Connections
Next, Ms. Ferguson says, nonprofit leaders should help board members think about how to leverage their networks by asking them questions about:
- their business connections and relationships.
- their involvement in community groups.
- other charities they work with.
- events they attend where they might run across a lawmaker.
- political campaigns have they contributed to.
Then, have a conversation with trustees about what actions to take. These can be as simple and natural as remembering to talk about their involvement with the charity when they run into a lawmaker at an event, Ms. Wallestad says.
“That’s a time when, if the opportunity arises in a conversation, they can articulate to the person in an informal way the organization’s mission,” she says. For just such occasions, she adds, trustees should have at the ready a short, compelling statement about why they care about the nonprofit’s mission and why they got involved. They need not be experts on the organization’s issues of focus, but they should be well informed about its work and overall priorities.
“Remind them they’re there to open the door to a relationship with the lawmaker,” Ms. Wallestad says. And if the trustee lives in that legislator’s district, she adds, it’s important to make sure the lawmaker knows he or she is talking to a constituent.
Staying the Course
Making your nonprofit’s case to lawmakers bears similarities to fundraising, Ms. Ferguson says. Just as “you don’t approach a wealthy donor by cold-calling them and expect a big donation,” advocacy involves “a long period of contact and cultivation.”
She and Ms. Wallestad recommend coaching board members not just on opening a conduit to public officials but on how to elevate advocacy conversations the next time their paths cross:
- If the public official has been a supporter of the charity in the past, be sure to thank them.
- Don’t lecture lawmakers about the mission, just tell them the charity’s work.
- Invite the lawmaker to one of your charity’s upcoming events, or schedule a visit where he or she can learn more about your group’s programs or the concerns of those it serves.
- Find areas that are relevant to the official’s interests and build on those.
- Read lawmakers’ campaign literature to learn what issues they care about. Are they worried about jobs? Do they promote science, technology, engineering, and math education? If your organization has programs that address a favorite area, point that out.
- If lawmakers agree to attend an event, try to get them involved in a way that will make them feel good about participating.
- Use the visit to have a deeper conversation about what the organization has accomplished for those it serves.
Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously identified one of BoardSource’s online advocacy resources as Stand by Your Mission — the correct title is Stand for Your Mission.