Stand for Your Mission – Advocacy
Nonprofit Advocacy Matters
Board members are essential to successful community outreach and advocacy, but they have more work to do. According to the 2017 Leading with Intent report, 43 percent of chief executives and 42 percent of board chairs include outreach efforts and acting as ambassadors for the organization as one of the three areas most in need of board improvement.
Strong board leadership is not just about checks and balances; it is about creating the circumstances that will allow nonprofits’ missions to be achieved. To be passionate, articulate, and effective champions for their missions, board members need to be well informed of public policy issues that affect their organizations. They also need to be educated about the board’s role in advocacy and provided appropriate support and resources to become ambassadors for their organizations.
The most effective charitable organizations have recognized that successful advocacy simply means using our voices as committed and informed champions for our missions.
Initiated by BoardSource — together with the Alliance for Justice, the Campion Foundation, the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the National Council of Nonprofits — the Stand for Your Mission campaign seeks to unleash the full potential of the nonprofit sector to create positive impact by engaging board leaders more directly in the advocacy work of their organizations.
Advocacy is a powerful lever for real impact. Our goal is to inspire and challenge board leaders to “stand for your mission” through active engagement as ambassadors and advocates for your organization’s work.
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