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Nonprofits and Advocacy

Engaging Community and Government in an Era of Retrenchment

edited by Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka

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Does nonprofit mean nonpolitical?

When the Susan G. Komen foundation pulled funding for Planned Parenthood’s breast exam program, the public uproar brought new focus to the high political and economic stakes faced by nonprofit organizations. The missions of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, political action committees, and now Super PACs have become blurred as issues of advocacy and political influence have become increasingly entangled.

Questions abound: Should a nonprofit advocate for its mission and its constituents with a goal of affecting public policy? What are the limits of such...

Does nonprofit mean nonpolitical?

When the Susan G. Komen foundation pulled funding for Planned Parenthood’s breast exam program, the public uproar brought new focus to the high political and economic stakes faced by nonprofit organizations. The missions of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, political action committees, and now Super PACs have become blurred as issues of advocacy and political influence have become increasingly entangled.

Questions abound: Should a nonprofit advocate for its mission and its constituents with a goal of affecting public policy? What are the limits of such advocacy work? Will such efforts fundamentally jeopardize nonprofit work? What can studies of nonprofit advocacy efforts reveal? Editors Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka recognize the urgent need for relevant research and insight into these issues as direct and indirect government services are squeezed by federal cutbacks.

Nonprofits and Advocacy defines advocacy and clarifies the differences among advocacy, lobbying, political activity, and education, as well as advocacy measurements. Providing original empirical data and innovative theoretical arguments, this comparative study is organized into two parts. The first part focuses on local and national dimensions of nonprofit advocacy, and the second part looks at organizational politics and strategies. The conclusion considers basic questions about nonprofit advocacy and seeks to draw lessons from research efforts and practice.

Providing a critical look at the multidimensional roles and advocacy efforts of nonprofits, this volume will be valued by scholars, students, leaders, and activists—many of whom advocate for the interests of their organizations while delivering services to their organizations' constituents. The research is also relevant for policymakers involved in cross-sector public policy initiatives as they strive to provide more efficient public-private solutions to challenging governance issues.

Reviews

Reviews

This volume provides important data and expertly identifies gaps in our understanding. It is an important and well-crafted book that deserves a wide readership.

Seasoned practitioners deep in the trenches of nonprofit advocacy will enjoy pausing to reflect on various insights offered by this collection of scholarly studies. The book can prompt questions about ways to cross-fertilize approaches and spark innovative ideas for advancing nonprofits’ missions for the communities they serve.

The subtitle says it all—the policy issue is how the nonprofit community can advocate successfully for adequate social services when government seems determined to withdraw from the social sector. The volume collects analyses from the leading scholars in the field and gives us hope that more focused and intelligent advocacy can restore social welfare to the public agenda.

This edited volume provides a most welcome collection of excellent empirical chapters on key aspects of nonprofit advocacy on national and subnational levels. The variety of methods employed (content analysis of historical documents, case studies, interviews, surveys) and topics examined offer particularly rich portraits of this complex but critical domain.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
320
ISBN
9781421413495
Illustration Description
25 line drawings
Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Nonprofit Advocacy: Definitions and Concepts
Part I: The Local and National Dimensions of Nonprofit Advocacy
Chapter 1. The Group Basis of City Politics
Chapter 2

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Nonprofit Advocacy: Definitions and Concepts
Part I: The Local and National Dimensions of Nonprofit Advocacy
Chapter 1. The Group Basis of City Politics
Chapter 2. Nonprofit Advocacy in Seattle and Washington, DC
Chapter 3. Shaping the Government–Nonprofit Partnership: Direct and Indirect Advocacy
Chapter 4. Nonprofit Advocacy in the Nation's Capital
Chapter 5. From Skid Row to the Statehouse: How Nonprofit Homeless Service Providers Overcome Barriers to Policy Advocacy Involvement
Part II: Organizational Politics, Strategy, and Tactics
Chapter 6. Advocacy in Hard Times: Nonprofit Organizations and the Representation of Marginalized Groups in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11
Chapter 7. Gender Identity and the Shifting Basis of Advocacy by US Women's Groups, 1920–2000
Chapter 8. The Political Voice of American Children: Nonprofit Advocacy and a Century of Representation for Child Well-Being
Chapter 9. Analyzing the Practice of Nonprofit Advocacy: Comparing Two Human Service Networks
Chapter 10. Effective Advocacy: Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders from Research and Practice
List of Contributors
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Robert J. Pekkanen

Robert J. Pekkanen is an associate professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington.
Featured Contributor

Steven Rathgeb Smith

Steven Rathgeb Smith is executive director of the American Political Science Association and affiliate professor in the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.
Featured Contributor

Yutaka Tsujinaka

Yutaka Tsujinaka is the president-elect of the Japanese Political Science Association and a professor of political science in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba.