Analysis of the political advocacy of non-profit organizations

Completed by: Observatorio del Tercer Sector

Research Team: Pau Vidal (Director) and Imma Guixé.

Working Group: Maria Sureda and Raquel Navas.

Translation: Robert Painter.

© Observatorio del Tercer Sector 2005

June 2007: Revision of publication graphics.

With the support of: CETC (Centre d’Estudis de Temes Contemporanis).

Legal Deposit: B.35913-2008 ISBN: 978-84-612-2971-0

Les Carolines 10, 2ª planta - 08012 Barcelona

OTS publications are thought of for their maximum diffusion and contribute to the improvement and knowledge of the third sector. The distribution, reproduction and reuse is authorized provided that it without financial gain and recognizes the original authorship. All publications can be downloaded free of charge at www.tercersector.org.es.

Analysis of the Political Advocacy of Non-Profit Organizations

Results of the fieldwork

Project reflections on the Third Sector

Pau Vidal / Imma Guixé

June 2005

Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................5

2. Role of political advocacy in non-profit organizations ...........................6

3. Principal content of political advocacy ................................................7

4. Actors and environments of political advocacy work.............................9

5. Tools of political advocacy..............................................................11

6. Job resources for political advocacy.................................................12

7. Final commentary: important themes ..............................................13

5

1. Introduction

Over the last few years, non-profit organizations (NPOs) have experienced an important evolution. NPOs, traditionally focused on meeting the basic needs of the population, have left behind this role as simple service providers to include in their activities the defence and promotion of rights. The experience accumulated by these organizations has demonstrated that, in spite of having achieved important advances in the local sphere, the systems and structures that determine the potency and the distribution of resources remain untouchable. This fact has inspired many organizations to acquire new roles with the political field, intervening in public policy and private entities, generating alternative proposals, with the ultimate aim of obtaining greater transformation in the larger sphere. Political work, not belonging to an existing reality, allows these two spheres, the operative and the political, to complement each other and, furthermore, currently allows many NPOs in our country to realize both activities.

Before this change in discourse and perspective occurred during the 1990s, the third sector saw a excellent opportunity to explore the relations and collaboration with the government and the private sector, and not only with an eye to obtaining more resources, but rather regarding the reporting and reclamation of those actors who are facing society as well. They opened new spaces for NPOs to act in a local environment as well as at the national and international level, and little by little they recognized these organizations as legitimate bodies, qualified to speak in the name of collectives and over determining factors related to their field. On the other hand, their capacity to influence has been seen mainly through the progressive growth of the quota of power and credibility that these organizations enjoy in our society.

This work is intended to reflect on the function of political impact of NPOs, and to contribute to the improvement of its management through the identification of key strategies and instruments. This document collects the initial results of fieldwork completed through an electronic survey during the years of 2004 and 2005 from the webpage of the Observatorio del Tercer Sector (www.tercersector.org.es). The results intend to reflect the situation of political influence of non-profit organizations. 262 organizations have responded from which we have counted 244 surveys as being valid, which suppose a wide sample for the study of these characteristics. The responses represent a heterogeneous set of entities as much for their field of work or subsector1 as for their size (in terms of

1 The entities have been classified by six fields of work: social (32%), cultural (15,6%), cooperation (13,5%), insertion/integration (8,6%), education y leisure time (17,2%), environmental (6,1%) and community initiatives (7%).

6

budget and human resources). The majority of the entities are associations (59%), although the participation of foundations in this study is also notable (27%). Despite the fact that the occupations of the organizations are varied, the responses by and large come from within Catalonia (75%), including, moreover, a wide representation of organizations at the state level.

The fieldwork was completed through interviews with relevant representatives of the sector and the academic world that will be used for a final publication together with the conceptual approach and the theoretical content of the study.

2. Role of political advocacy in non-profit organizations

In a general manner, we can define political advocacy as ¨the process of influencing the political outcome, including the policies, positions and decisions of both public and private institutions¨. Understanding political advocacy in this sense, many individuals as well as social groups have attempted to influence the systems of power for the large part of history, although these activities have not been considered political advocacy until quite recently.

The growing function of advocacy or political pressure on the part of non-profit organizations has provoked a great deal of criticism in recent years. The large emphasis that is put on the non-governmental character of these organizations has led them to deny, as much from within the sector as from the outside, their participation in the political sphere. However, at present it appears that, in large measure, this debate has passed.

The results of the survey demonstrate that nearly 85% of the entities interviewed are in agreement with the notion that political advocacy is essential for NPOs. However, this percentage shrinks to 56% when the question alludes to their own organization.

While, in function, the occupation of NPOs does not differ significantly when considering advocacy as an essential part of the sector, it is possible to analyze the surveys according to the size of the organizations. Thus, the smallest organizations (75%) place less than average importance on advocacy activities; organizations of a moderate size (95%) exceed the average, and the largest entities (88%) are close to the general mean.

7

Chart 1: Advocacy is fundamental work for the

third sector

Chart 2: Advocacy is a priority within my organization

It is interesting to affirm that the results of the survey signal that there are significant differences between the opinions of the organizations and the reality of their actions. Although the majority of them consider political advocacy to be part of their role in society, only one quarter of the organizations actually carry out this practice with any type of regularity (26%). In the same fashion, it stands out that nearly a third of the organizations (30%) indicate that they have never performed activities of political advocacy, or only in a very brief form.

Chart 3: Frequency of advocacy work

It also stands out that there arenotable differences in thefrequency of the completion ofadvocacy activities according tothe line of work of theorganizations.

Thus, while some 45% of the cooperative NPOs develop this type of activity with a certain regularity, much higher than average, 40% of NPOs in the cultural sphere declare that they do not perform advocacy activities, or only rarely.

3. Principal content of political advocacy From the current context, the organizations identify problems and situations which are often ignored by public institutions, and propose active policies. It is important to keep in mind that

Never 15%

NS/NR 3% Sole activity of the organization 3%

Regular

13%

Fairly often

18%

Sporadically

23%

Disagree

6%

Agree

56%

Neutral

23%

Disagree

21%

Agree

84%

Neutral

10%

On occasion

15%

8

the list of interests that a society has is quite diverse, and that non-profits directly take in this diversity and complexity.

More than half of the entities that perform political advocacy work (56%) centre their activities on generic interests, covering themes that affect society as a whole, and that are often based on the values of their own organization. In the second place, they feel that advocacy work relates to the particular interests of their users and beneficiaries (41%). This process is situated in a dynamic context, characterized by social inequality, where determined voices and interests are marginalized or excluded from our society. On another level they feel that political advocacy and actions that directly affect their performance (legislation, financing, etc.) and, by extension, the interests of their associates.

Chart4: Toward what type of policies and actions do you direct your advocacy work?

71%

59%

50%

35%

Users/beneficiaries

Organizational performance

Associates

Society in general and the values of the organization

9

4. Actors and environments of political advocacy work

Multiple actors participate in the work of political advocacy of their organizations: active actors, who perform the work of political advocacy, and passive actors, who receive the share of said advocacy. The relationship between these actors is normally characterized by the power inequalities that exist between the two.

The large part of political advocacy in our country is completed in a collective form. The organizations tend to coordinate amongst themselves, creating formal or informal entities of the second level, that, following the structure of coordinators, federations, platforms, networks or coalitions, carry out together the work of political advocacy. Group work, while involving many difficulties related to efforts at coordination and communication, allows for an increase in the power quota and the capacity to influence organizations in the political plane and, therefore, guarantee more success in the results. The organizations are conscious of the benefits of collective work in this field; accordingly, only 45% acknowledge that they almost always or frequently act individually. The large part of the entities prefer to do it through organizations of the second order that are permanent, such as coordinators or federations (52%), or temporary such as coalitions or platforms (42%)

Chart 5: Actors who perform advocacy work

The political advocacy of the organizations has traditionally been directed towards public bodies. Of the different public actors to whom NPOs direct their activities, above all it is those who are closest to public entities—autonomous and local administrations—who receive the majority of the actions of political advocacy. Concretely, 36% of the entities perform continuous or habitual advocacy work with local administrations, while 39% do it at the level of the autonomies, and 16% at the state level. International organizations, as well as the European Union, appear as actors who few organizations attempt to influence (only 2% and 4% respectively do it frequently).

53%

46%

44%

31%

Second level organizations

Individually

By means of an organization that depends on the entity

Networks, platforms, movements or temporary organizations

10

It is important to keep in mind that private bodies are also receptors of political advocacy work from non-profit organizations. 13% of the entities respond that they perform this type of action frequently and, in fact, each time there are more organizations that include businesses in their field of political action. Equally, the advocacy work that these organizations perform within the second level of which they are members also stands out. 42% of the entities surveyed affirm acting frequently in a relationship with these actors.

Chart 6: Actors who receive advocacy

The majority of entities situate their political action at the autonomous level (38%), followed closely by the local, that being the municipal or community (30%), as well as regional or supra-regional (30%). Based on these results, we can affirm that the number of incidences of political advocacy outside of Catalonia is quite small. In fact, only 15% of the organizations surveyed prefer to act at the state level and 8% habitually orient their actions on the international plane. That said, it is important to recognize the growing internationalization of the work of these organizations.

Chart 7: Targets of advocacy work

35%

32%

16% 13%

9%

Local-level public administration

Organizations of the 2nd order

Private enterprise

International organizations

European Union 6%

State-level public administration

39% Autonomous-level public administration

Autonomy-level

Local: neighborhood or municipality

Regional, more than one region

International

State (Spain)

Autonomy-level

Local: neighborhood or municipality

Regional, more than one region

International

State (Spain)

11

5. Tools of political advocacy The different strategies in which advocacy work is channelled are quite diverse and, in most cases, complementary. These strategies range from the moderate—cooperative actions and proposals—to the radical—protests and complaints.

Meetings with politicians, awareness campaigns, education and disclosure, together with new technology (Internet and e-mail) are the instruments more frequently utilized by the organizations interviewed (36%, 36% and 34%, respectively) while performing political advocacy. From these results it is critical to underscore the important role that new technologies are acquiring in advocacy work due to their large impact, speed and low cost. Equally, nearly half of the entities frequently use the generation of political proposals and their presence in the media as advocacy tools. It is necessary to highlight that 71% of the organizations do not use applied research, and 72% ignore citizen mobilization when applying political pressure. It is even more surprising that 54% never have used the most radical methods, like the boycott of specific actors, products or services, and that only 34% have used them on some occasion.

Chart 8: Tools utilized for advocacy

59%

54%

52%

41%

29%

9%

45%

46%

25%

Meetings with politicians

Use of new technology

Awareness campaigns

Publications

Media presence

Generation of public proposals

Applied research

Citizen mobilization

Boycotts

12

6. Job resources for political advocacy It must be kept in mind that the work of political advocacy is still new and is not exempt from challenges and difficulties. More than two-thirds of the sample of entities interviewed agreed that the principal difficulties in seeing through political advocacy are the low levels of coordination between organizations, the lack of resources allocated for such activities, as well as obstacles at the time of evaluating the advocacy work. It is also important to point out that more than half of the organizations acknowledge that the lack of defined strategies and the danger of losing public financing are important limitations that also impede work in the political sphere.

Chart 9: Difficulties faced by organizations when they attempt political advocacy

Chart 10: Allocated economic resources (%)

20-40%: 6%0-20%67%

NS/NR21%

60-80%: 1%40-60%: 3% 0-10%: 61%

10-20%:6%

80-100: 2%

20-40%: 6%0-20%67%

NS/NR21%

60-80%: 1%40-60%: 3% 0-10%: 61%

10-20%:6%

80-100: 2%

In relation to the lack of resources to perform advocacy activities, it is important to point out that the majority of NPOs (61%) allocate less than 10% of their budget to this type of work.

63%

59%

57%

51%

42%

26%

54%

57%

34%

Low levels of coordination

Difficulties with evaluation

Degree of sensitivity of the interlocutors

Lack of clear strategies

Frequent change of political interlocutors

Danger of losing public financing

Few results

Belief that they do not belong to the sector

69%

70%

Lack of resources

Lack of notoriety

Lack of legitimacy

13

This explains why 80% of the organizations surveyed do not have an advocacy department, and that those who do normally are referring to a more generic department or a similar one that also performs these activities. Additionally, the lack of resources prevents the majority of organizations from hiring staff for this particular area. Les than one-quarter of the sample, some 20%, affirms allocating paid human resources to this activity, and 48% of the entities use volunteers.

Chart 11: Paid employees working on political advocacy

Chart 12: Volunteers working on political

advocacy

7. Final commentary: important themes

Advocacy presents numerous challenges for the third sector, because, as we have shown, it is treated as an increasingly important issue, but quite complex and still fairly incipient. Within the key themes identified by the non-profits in the field of political advocacy, the following stand out.

- Winning public support. In the first place, it is essential that the organizations get their message to the people. On many occasions third sector organizations have not known to communicate their message to society. If the public is informed, they will be capable of positioning themselves to give support to the political advocacy work of the NPOs. In the same form, advocacy work that does not include community support, it will cause the NPO to rapidly lose its legitimacy to act on the political plane.

- Campaign leadership. Leadership is a decisive factor in the ability of the organization to instigate and implement processes of political influence. Frequently, these processes demand a great deal of energy, time and ability that the majority of organizations, mostly focused on their daily activities, simply do not have.

None53%

Less than 532%

Between 5-153%

More than 3012%

None53%

Less than 532%

Between 5-153%

More than 3012%

None75%Less than

518%

Between 5-15

10%

Between 16-305%

NS/NR: 5%

None75%Less than

518%

Between 5-15

10%

Between 16-305%

NS/NR: 5%

14

- Financing political advocacy work. One of the principal difficulties of the organizations surveyed is the lack of resources needed to finance advocacy work. This often means that these activities do not enjoy the dedication and professionalism that they demand or, consequently, yield the desired results. On one hand, the lack of resources is derived from the fact that they are intangible and difficult for donors to finance compared to services and projects. On the other hand, the dilemma of involving oneself in political issues should be contextualized within the reality of the majority of organizations in the sector, with the high dependence on public financing. Taking engaged political positions can precipitate the weakening of the relationships with public financiers and, therefore, a reduction of funds on the part of the donors.

- Networking. Many organizations work collectively, uniting their efforts to carry out political advocacy on common interests. This collective work, while indispensable for the sector, is not exempt from challenges y difficulties that the organizations should confront. Many of these difficulties are due to the scant communication between their members, the lack of consensus on specific issues, excessive structure and bureaucratization within the created organizations, as well as a lack of dedication on the part of the entities at the second level. Whether permanent or temporary, formal or informal, and for the mere complexity of their structure, these organizations have hardly been studied in our country, and require a deeper analysis that will permit the identification of their weaknesses and suggest improvements in their performance.

Our mission

The Observatorio del Tercer Sector is a research centre specialized in the third sector, without a financial aim and independent, with the objective of

deepening and increasing the knowledge of this sector and working for improvement in the performance of non-profit organizations.

Fields of works

THE STRUCTURALIZATION OF

THE THIRD SECTOR

For example, themes such as sector diagnostics,

identification and visualization of umbrella

organizations, third sector and society...

THE PERFORMER OF THE ORGANIZATION

For example, themes such as government organs, quality, organizational reflections, volunteers, transparency, impact, management and personnel development

AREAS OF INTEREST OF THE THIRD SECTOR

For example, themes such as youth, cooperative development, ethical

banking, the environment, social, cultural, etc.

Research, conferences, workshops,

publications, organizational escort,…

Thir

d s

ecto

r in

gen

eral

, so

cial

, co

oper

ativ

e, e

nvi

ronm

enta

l,

cultura

l...

Catalo

nia, S

pain

Intern

ational co

mparative

SEC

TO

R F

OC

US

ACTIVITIES

TE

RR

ITO

RIA

L F

OC

US