Nonprofit Advocacy Tactics: Thinking Inside The Box?

Professionalization and its consequences: how active advocacy may undermine democracy

“…This is perhaps why line staff are increasingly encouraged to see advocacy as part of their day-to-day work. Line staff thus perform the fourth advocacy role, and in doing so they are considered a valuable source of regional and local community embeddedness (Clear et al, 2017;Donaldson, 2007;Mosley, 2013a;Sarmiento Mellinger, 2017). Advocacy is to a great extent a purposive framing activity that is intended to persuade targets of a particular interpretation of reality, and this is perhaps why the fifth and final role that we have identified is that of the expert communicator (Öberg & Svensson, 2012;Schmid et al, 2008).…”

“…The first role is enacted by rank-and-file members or end-users who are encouraged to participate in advocacy because they are believed to bring 'real-world' credibility to the problem descriptions that are conveyed in advocacy (Clear, Paull, & Holloway, 2017). Board members of advocating organizations occupy the second advocacy role that we identified in the literature.…”

“…Board members of advocating organizations occupy the second advocacy role that we identified in the literature. Board members are recognized as important players on the advocacy team because their often extensive contact networks-networks facilitate access to decision makers (Clear et al, 2017;LaPira & Thomas, 2014;Mosley, 2010). In addition, board members are seen as important in meetings with elected politicians because they give democratic legitimacy (Clear et al, 2017).…”

“…Board members are recognized as important players on the advocacy team because their often extensive contact networks-networks facilitate access to decision makers (Clear et al, 2017;LaPira & Thomas, 2014;Mosley, 2010). In addition, board members are seen as important in meetings with elected politicians because they give democratic legitimacy (Clear et al, 2017). Importantly, this indicates an appreciation for the role that elected board members can play in signaling member-based organizations' input legitimacy in advocacy processes (Fraussen & Halpin, 2018).…”

“…Although there is a significant element of advocacy now requiring lots of 'boots on the ground', the primary legitimacy base for this role is the idea of local embeddedness as a prerequisite to build close and lasting relations with decision makers (Clear et al, 2017;Donaldson, 2007;Mosley, 2013aMosley, , 2013bClear, Paull, & Holloway, 2017;Sarmiento Mellinger, 2017). From this perspective, and under the condition that 'the gun is properly loaded from the beginning, so that everyone knows the purpose, and can navigate accordingly, […] a decentralized advocacy mandate with everyday advocacy decision being made locally, close to decision makers, is preferable.'…”