52 Tips in 52 Weeks: It’s Time to Review Your Organization’s Advocacy Policy
Advocacy efforts are front and center in these challenging times. For my colleagues who focus on advocacy efforts, 2020 has been a year with literally no downtime. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work in the midst of folks that are dedicated to the Standards for Excellence principle: “working independently and in partnership, nonprofits should strive to influence public policies that affect the organization’s ability to achieve its mission.” Things seem to be moving quickly on so many fronts all at the same time. Now is the time to reflect upon your own organization’s advocacy policy.
The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector encourages each nonprofit to “have a written, board-approved policy on advocacy defining the process by which the organization determines positions on specific issues.” A policy on advocacy or public policy should outline a process for making decisions. It should also define criteria employed to determine whether different public policy issues fall within the organization's mission and purview. The advocacy policy should set up clear roles and responsibilities for the staff (which may specifically name staff positions like the executive director, external relations director, and/or public policy director), the board of directors (which may include specific committees), and the organization’s membership (if applicable). Factors to consider in deciding how and when to take policy positions should include the organization’s mission, the impact of policies, the consensus around decision-making, credibility, and flexibility. Like other organizational policies, the advocacy policy should be approved by the organization’s board of directors.
Of course, your advocacy policy should also indicate that all of your activities will remain strictly nonpartisan, meaning that you will refrain from efforts related to endorsing candidates or political parties.
For more information on how to develop an advocacy policy for your nonprofit, we encourage you to check out the Standards for Excellence educational resource packet, Advancing the Mission through Public Policy which includes: a discussion on the fact that advocacy and lobbying are legal, definitions of key terms like advocacy and lobbying, allowable lobbying activity, registration and disclosure of lobbying activity. Sample policies on advocacy and public policy are provided as well.
This educational resource packet and the full series of all packets - including sample policies, tools, and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management - can be accessed by contacting a Licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.
About the Author: Amy Coates Madsen
Amy Coates Madsen is the Director of the Standards for Excellence Institute, a national initiative to promote the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations, and to facilitate adherence to standards by all organizations. The Standards for Excellence Institute is a program of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations where Amy has served for more than twenty-two years. Amy is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the association’s comprehensive ethics and accountability program and efforts to replicate the program nationally. She serves as a frequent trainer and writer in the areas of board conduct, program evaluation, program replication, fundraising ethics, and nonprofit management. She has taught courses on nonprofit ethics and accountability at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies Certificate Program on Nonprofit Management. She has held positions at the Trenton lobbying firm of the Princeton Public Affairs Group, and the Public Policy Liaison Unit at the world headquarters of Catholic Relief Services. Amy received her Master of Arts in Policy Studies degree from the Johns Hopkins University – Institute for Policy Studies in Baltimore, Maryland; and her Bachelors degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Amy is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Amy serves on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). Amy is a former member of the Disaster Action Team of the Central Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross and is qualified to provide disaster preparedness training to children and adults. She has also served as the former President of Central Maryland CAN TOO and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the largest United Methodist Church in Baltimore City. She serves on the board of her children’s preschool PTA and is a volunteer with the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland. Amy is currently leading an effort to establish an endowment for the Virginia Tech University Honors Program.