Action Guide > Action > Advocacy
Advocacy is the act of arguing on behalf of a particular issue, idea, or person.
Individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments can engage in advocacy.
Advocating for an idea can take many forms, all of which serve to
communicate one’s views for the purpose of policy reform and social change.
For example, environmental advocacy might involve writing letters to the
editor of a newspaper, contacting political representatives, organizing “teach-in”
meetings, distributing educational materials, or participating in a public protest.
Advocacy often takes the form of campaigns focused on an individual whose
situation represents a larger cause or issue. An example of advocacy on behalf
of an individual person includes the campaigns during the 1970s and 80s to
release Soviet refusenik Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky from prison and allow him
to emigrate to Israel. Sharansky’s plight became a rallying point which fueled
the larger Soviet Jewry movement.
Often, advocacy is directed at the local, state, or federal government. For
example, the same environments advocacy campaign described above could
include scheduling meetings with local officials to ask them to vote a certain
way on pending legislation. Part of the community education can ask individuals
to contact their representatives.
Advocacy can be the most difficult mode of civic action to understand but
can have the greatest impact on a systemic societal problem. The essential
purpose of advocacy is to speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for
themselves and to raise awareness and change policy on a particular issue.
Definition of advocacy adapted from Excerpt from Volume 1: Reflections on Advocacy by David Cohen Co-Director, Advocacy Institute from the Advocacy Learning Initiative by Oxfam American and the Advocacy Institute.
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Some noteworthy people in the field of philanthropy:
Sarah and James Brady
An assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan left White House Press
Secretary James Brady paralyzed. The Bradys subsequently led lobbying efforts
for stricter handgun control.
Craig Kielburger
At the age of 12, Craig Kielburger founded Free The Children to help free children from poverty, exploitation and powerlessness. He has spoken in defense of children’s rights before the United Nations, on the Oprah Winfrey show, and has shared the podium with Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama. Free The Children is now the world’s largest network of children helping children through education. Its volunteers have built more than 450 primary schools in the developing world, providing daily education to over 40,000 children.
Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser is the Executive Director of MoveOn.org an internet advocacy group
that promotes progressive public policy. In the 2004 election, MoveOn PAC
raised over $30 million from over 350,000 small donors to run ads, develop
a powerful field program, and support progressive candidates at every level of
politics from U. S. President through state-level offices.
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Web Resources
The Advocacy Center at the Institute for Sustainable Communities
(formerly the Advocacy Institute)
www.advocacy.org
The Advocacy Center offers training to emerging leaders and established
nonprofits around the world and in the United States.
Common Cause
www.commoncause.org
A nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 as a vehicle
for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their
elected leaders accountable to the public interest.
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
www.jewishpublicaffairs.org
The JCPA serves as the representative voice of the organized American Jewish
community in addressing the mandate of the Jewish community relations field:
to safeguard the rights of Jews here, in Israel, and around the world; and to
protect, preserve, and promote a just American society, one that is democratic
and pluralistic.
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC)
www.rac.org
The RAC has been a hub of Jewish social justice and legislative activity in the
nation’s capital for more than 40 years. The RAC is a resource to educate and
mobilize the American Jewish community on legislative and social concerns,
advocating on issues from economic justice to civil rights to religious liberty to
Israel.
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Books
J. J. Goldberg, Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish Establishment
(Perseus Books, 1996)
Christopher Kush, The One-Hour Activist: The 15 Most Powerful Actions
You Can Take to Fight for the Issues and Candidates You Care About
(Jossey-Bass, 2004)
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