Printable Version Email to a Friend To see the full report, "Building Capacity for Public Policy", click here

Are you ready to engage in public policy or take on a large scale advocacy campaign? The National Council of Nonprofit Associations' (NCNA) toolkit for building advocacy capacity reveals the key factors you'll need to engage in public policy. NCNA's toolkit summarizes the lessons learned by various state associations so that nonprofits can gain better insight on how to spend their time, efforts and resources to maximize results and minimize failure.

Self Assessment:

The most useful feature is an all encompassing tool that will allow you to assess your organization's ability to effectively engage in public policy. This tool, the self assessment, allows you to gage your organization's current public policy capacity by rating your organization (on a scale of 1 to 3--where 1 is the lowest and 3 is the highest) on the eight indicators of success. These include:

• organizational commitment

• decision-making structures

• policy agendas

• relationships with nonprofits, governments agencies, and policymakers

• organizational resources to engage in public policy

• communication skills and infrastructure

• knowledge of state, local and national politics

• technical expertise related to public policy

After you've totaled your organization's rankings on these indicators, you're now ready to find out if your organization needs capacity building. If your organization scores:

• 19-24-- Capacity for Public Policy is Excellent

• 13-18-- Capacity for Public Policy is Good

• 9-12-- Improvement is Needed

• 8 or Lower-- Capacity building needed (Definitely continue reading)

The NCNA toolkit offers the following tips for building public policy capacity:

Organizational Commitment To Public Policy:

Engaging in public policy must become a "strategic priority" as well as a long term commitment for organizations wishing to become more involved in public policy. NCNA member organizations participating in the Building Capacity for Public Policy (BCAPP) project increased their organizational commitment to public policy by adding public policy sessions to their annual conferences and featuring public policy issues more prominently in their newsletters/websites, amongst other key actions. The same can happen for your organization. Getting the support of your staff and board reduces the likelihood that public policy initiatives get short shrift.

Decision-Making Structures:

If your organization does not have a decision making structure in place to support and manage public policy initiatives, such as a policy committee, then the odds of seeing your policy initiative implemented decreases. All of the BCAPP partners developed or re-constituted their public policy committees and some even decided that prior knowledge and experience in policy advocacy was more important than mere interest in an issue. Other key lessons learned about forming/revising public policy committees include: deciding the role and scope of responsibility for committee members, choosing officers as well as the size of the committee and developing a decision making process for the committee.

Policy Agendas:

An organization without a clearly defined policy agenda is like a ship without a sail. Establish a policy agenda that is flexible enough to accommodate shifting priorities yet focused enough to ensure adequate progress on short term and long term goals. Upon examining their policy agendas, most BACPP participants described their agendas as "reactive" and found that creating a "pro-active" agenda would require learning more about the issues. Your organization may have to dedicate more time towards learning the issues to create a pro-active agenda, but in the end it pays off.

Relationships with Non-Profits, Government Agencies & Policymakers

Creating partnerships and coalitions with other nonprofits is important, yet maintaining contact with the targets of your advocacy campaign, government agencies and policymakers, is also just as important in building your organization's public policy capacity. One BCAPP participant sums up the power of this tool by stating: "A major lesson learned is that public policy work is not a solo activity."

Organizational Resources to Engage in Public Policy

Financial and human resources are the lifeline for effectively engaging in public policy. The BCAPP study recommends having one full-time staff person or lobbyist whose primary responsibility is public policy. BCAPP participants with a dedicated staff person were able to increase the level and frequency of public policy related activities and increase overall visibility, which helped attract more resources such as interns from colleges/universities, additional grants and new members. If your organization is unable to have a full-time staff member, then designate a staff member who will spend a portion of their time tracking and monitoring key issues or share a lobbyist/staff member with other groups who share your interests. Working with others helps you accomplish more than you could on your own.

Communication Skills & Infrastructure:

Communication skills as well as an infrastructure for communicating regularly and in a timely manner are essential for any organization wishing to effectively engage in public policy work. During the three year BCAPP project, all participants increased communication products in a number of ways. Some of these include: distributing broadcast faxes, using e-mail news alerts, creating policy-oriented listservs, creating nonprofit guides for policy makers and preparing special policy reports. Such measures, in addition to establishing working relationships with new reporters, allowed BCAPP participants to further their organizational goals and the same can happen with your organization.

Knowledge of State, Local & National Politics:

Understanding the political climate is important. Developing strategies that are appropriate to the political climate you're working in will certainly make you a better advocate for your issue. Research your legislators and know where they stand on all issues pertinent to your cause. Also, building relationships with a policymaker's staff and knowing which of your members has relationships with policymakers may help further your agenda.

Technical Expertise Related to Public Policy

Understanding the technical jargon and procedures associated with various areas of public policy will certainly assist nonprofits seeking to become more involved in public policy. There are many terms that are specific to tax and budget policy. If your understanding of these terms is limited, your ability to effectively engage in public policy becomes hampered. BCAPP participants report that they continue to "learn the ropes" of public policy and one participant even mentioned that limited expertise in an area led them to promote a policy that had limited impact on the issue they sought to address. Clearly, understanding the budget and appropriations timeline, the legislative process as well as federal/state lobbying rules are invaluable tools for increasing public policy capacity. If you are not sure about an issue or a process, consult with a trusted partner organization or set aside an hour a week to become more informed.

To get more specific information on building advocacy capacity, read NCNA's full BCAPP report.