Survey: 73 percent of nonprofits involved in advocacy

Lester Salamon and Stephanie Geller of John Hopkins University recently released the results of a study they conducted under the aegis of the Listening Post Project to measure the extent of advocacy work by nonprofit organizations. They write:

“Advocacy and civic engagement have long been considered central functions of America’s nonprofit organizations. Unfortunately, there is limited current data on how recent challenges are affecting nonprofit engagement in policy advocacy, and how this varies by field, size of agency, or other factors. Moreover, we know very little about what factors affect the willingness of nonprofit organizations to engage in lobbying and advocacy, or what forms their involvement takes.

“To help fill this gap in knowledge, the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project conducted a survey, or sounding, of its nationwide sample of 872 nonprofit organizations in four key fields (children and family services, elderly housing and services, community and economic development, and the arts) in 2007.”

The study found that 73 percent of nonprofit organizations participating in the survey engage in advocacy and that three out of five did so at least once a month during the preceding year, while another 31 percent did so at least quarterly. The study also indicated that nonprofit involvement in policy is on the rise despite scarce resources and that lack of funding is the major constraint.

The study, “Nonprofit America: A Force for Democracy,” is now available online, including a brief executive summary of the findings. It was developed in cooperation with the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.