April 16, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Rick Cohen, former head of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, has a long list on his Nonprofit Quarterly blog about the advocacy mistakes he sees charities making.
The worst thing charities can do, he says, is “transform into uncritical handmaiden of the handful of insiders who have grabbed the ‘nonprofit expert’ roles in the new administration, rather than doing what the nonprofit sector should always do, which is stand apart, critique, mobilize the communities we represent, and demand social justice.”
But Mr. Cohen notes that there are big differences among the country’s charities, and those advocating on their behalf.
As findings from a forthcoming study by Nonprofit Quarterly will show, some of the “best funded and most effective infrastructure organizations tend to promote the interests of the larger players in the nonprofit sector, leaving small nonprofits with limited voice and impact on national policies affecting nonprofits.”
Thus, the study calls for foundations to spend more to finance national networks that connect small charities with larger groups and give them platforms.
Mr. Cohen also reminds charities that they need to be smart about the advocacy they do. Groups that don’t seek to influence policy on a regular basis can get tripped up some of the arcane aspects of the legislative process.
Take the recent efforts to persuade Congress to pass the Serve America Act, writes Mr. Cohen. The National Council of Nonprofits and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest did a good job of mobilizing the nonprofit world effectively against amendments introduced in the act that would have restricted nonprofit lobbying and other activities, he says.
But a number of charities sent out e-mail alerts in response to the lobbying amendment that were more about enhancing their own brand than they were about opposing something that was sure to fail anyway, he says.
Other alerts focused on ridiculous targets, he says: One nonprofit association sent out an alert asking people to call on Sen. Barbara Mikulski to oppose the gag efforts, even though she was leading the Senate opposition to an amendment.
“Let’s spare members of Congress, in the worst instances, nonprofit branding masquerading as PR advocacy,” Mr. Cohen concludes. “Let’s spare President Obama and his aides from having to read treacly materials whose subtexts read, ‘I heart Obama,’ ‘notice me,’ ‘fund me,’ and ‘give me an earmark.’”
Instead, Mr. Cohen urges charities to keep pressure on the administration and Congress, not on behalf of individual groups or even the interests of their narrow fields, but on behalf of the communities they serve.
