The field of advocacy grantmaking has made tremendous strides in documenting and evaluating the impacts of advocacy, and sharing best practices in advocacy, advocacy field-building and advocacy grantmaking.
Yet the overall share of foundation funds that go to advocacy doesn’t seem to be growing over time. The best proxy for advocacy funding is the Foundation Center’s data on social justice grantmaking, which actually showed a recent downward dip. According to The State of Social Justice Philanthropy 2011, foundation giving for policy and community engagement to address pressing social problems dipped to 12 percent, compared to the 15 percent average in 2008-2010. As it is, the Gates Foundation accounts for a significant portion of that funding.
So the Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Initiative has launched a nationwide survey of both private and public foundations to learn more about how they support policy advocacy by their grantees and the challenges they face in doing this kind of grantmaking. According to their blog, “Our goal is to appreciate what funders need to become more comfortable with advocacy efforts, including how to educate their trustees and staff, as well as how they are building the advocacy capacity of their grantees.”
This is an important opportunity to figure out how we can move that needle on advocacy funding to tackle the many pressing issues that face our communities, from income inequality to harmful environmental and climate impacts.
So if you work at a foundation, please complete this survey and encourage your colleagues to do so as well. This will allow AFJ (and others in the sector like NCRP) to better tailor its resources and initiatives to address barriers and build on opportunities. The survey is open until February 28, 2014.
Lisa Ranghelli is director of foundation assessment at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow NCRP on Twitter (@ncrp).
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