The Champion
The organization has a public policy agenda, has in-house staff capacity dedicated to these efforts, and is a sophisticated player pulling on different levers to enact change.
Tactics
- Convene community members, grantees, and policymakers to hear about the community’s policy concerns and hear from a range of voices on solutions.
- Fund research and policy analysis to guide your policy priorities from a data-driven standpoint.
- Fund ballot initiatives at the local or state level (i.e., tax referenda for schools).
- Fund grassroots advocacy campaigns for a specific policy change.
- Fund an organization or a group of organizations to engage in direct lobbying for a specific policy goal.
- Advocate through the media –both traditional and social. Issue press releases on a particular policy (or joint releases alongside grantees, other funders, or an association), author Op-Eds, share statements on social media.
- Build relationships directly with policymakers. Make visits during “offseason” for the elected official, such as Congressional recess, or when state lawmakers are out of session, and focus on relationship building and sharing your impact and the impact of grantees.
- Public foundations can use their 501(h)-election expenditure limit to hire a lobbyist/lobby firm to support their policy advocacy (and policy priorities of grantees and community partners). Pro-tip: even with a lobbyist, a foundation or nonprofit still needs an in-house policy lead for the organization. Without it, the lobbyist is rudderless—they need direction and oversight from a policy-experienced, strategic, leadership-adjacent individual.
- Build out a policy agenda. This could have year-to-year policy goals which would be fairly specific, and/or broader goal areas (such as, improving reading comprehension, or graduation rates, or reducing rates of diabetes). The latter is helpful for boards to engage with, especially if they are beginning the conversation around public policy work and might need some reassurances about scope of issues the foundation would engage on.
Resources
- Policy Wheel / Tax Equity Funders
- Advocacy Capacity Tool / Bolder Advocacy
- Taking the 501(h) election / National Council of Nonprofits
Next Steps to Consider
- Take the Bolder Advocacy Self-Assessment to determine areas for deeper engagement
- Share your learnings and experiences with other funders
Florida Examples
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