Short description:

The research is relevant for policymakers involved in cross-sector public policy initiatives as they strive to provide more efficient public-private solutions to challenging governance issues.

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Long description:

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.

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.
?Susan M. Chambre, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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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. 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

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