CHANGE MATTERS

The Atlantic Philanthropies foundation launched its series Atlantic Reports with a first selection, “Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations,” because “funding advocacy too often is the philanthropic road not taken, yet it is a road most likely to lead to the kind of lasting change that philanthropy has long sought through other kinds of grants.”

Philanthropic giving has played an increasingly prominent role in reform efforts. “Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations” surveys the landscape of a growing number of funders who support advocacy, raises critical issues, and illuminates the challenges of supporting advocacy for social change. This Atlantic Reports piece on advocacy is an important tool to make change itself, particularly change in the thinking of the donor community.

This is not surprising because the new President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies is Gara LaMarche, an influential, intellectual ambassador for advocacy. He has a long history of activism. He was Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for George Soro's Open Society Institute. He also was Associate Director of Human Rights Watch, the Director of the PEN American Center’s Freedom-To-Write Program (when Salmon Rushdie’s Satanic Verses was published), and had a long career with the American Civil Liberties Union in their National Office, where we met, and at the Texas and the New York ACLU affiliates. Under his auspices, Atlantic Philanthropies is sharing lessons from their work and that of their grantees and other foundations.

Advocacy is broader than just lobbying. For example, various forms of advocacy that a foundation can support include research of public policy issues and policy development, community organizing, coalition building, litigation, regulatory activity, mobilizing public opinion, mass campaigns and more. Foundations have unique opportunities in that they can also convene grantees, constituents, and other stakeholders to explain why advocacy is important and to directly address social, economic and political conditions which bar access to participation in our democratic society.

When our federal government is dismantling its already inadequate safety net for children, the elderly and the poor, the willingness of charitable foundations to support the needs of those championing a cause is crucial. One bright example: OMB Watch helped generate 120,000 comments in opposition to a certain proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation. While the EPA received very few comments in support of the regulation, but implemented it anyway, the effort helped build a movement and led to further action. “Twelve states ended up suing the EPA,” according to Gary Bass, Founder and Executive Director of OMB Watch.

A truly democratic society roiled by social and economic change will include provocative, even contentious voices of activists, policymakers, researchers, journalists, politicians and others. One of the tougher mechanisms of change for foundations to support is criticism. As W. E. B. Dubois said: “Honest and earnest criticism from those whose interests are most nearly touched – criticism of writers by readers, of government by those governed, of leaders by those led – this is the soul of democracy and the safeguard of modern society.”[1] For example, the NAACP has strong disagreements with the Bush Administration over racial justice and equality issues, but, as Chairman Julian Bond has said about the organization, “We are non-partisan, but that doesn’t mean we’re non-critical. We don’t oppose political parties; we never have. We oppose wrongful policies.”

Atlantic Reports may give foundations a new vocabulary. Philanthropic organizations have a responsibility to ask the right questions before investing in advocacy. They should also be open-minded about the best path to change in line with their individual missions. By unleashing activists’ potential, foundations can unleash their own! In that regard, Atlantic Reports is an important addition to the literature of advocacy.
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[1] W. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)