Investment Needed In Nonprofit Policy Work

Nonprofits can do a lot more to help shape the public policies that affect their work and constituents. Working to fix flawed policies at the root of social problems is a key role nonprofits should play. But far too many nonprofits fail to play that role because of concerns that the law limits their advocacy work, and because they lack the resources to be effective advocates, says a new survey by the Nonprofit Listening Post Project at Johns Hopkins University. Among nonprofits that engaged in any lobbying or advocacy, for example, fewer than 15 percent devoted as much as 2 percent of their overall budget to that work, the report says.