Campaign Launched to Urge Nonprofit Board Advocacy

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This morning at the BoardSource Leadership Forum, Anne Wallestad, BoardSource president and CEO, announced the launch of the Stand for Your Mission campaign to more than 800 nonprofit leaders from across the country. This new campaign is designed to unleash the full potential of nonprofit organizations to advance their missions in their local communities by engaging board members more directly in the advocacy work of their organizations.

Initiated by BoardSource and created — 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 — this campaign is founded on the conviction that board members are the leaders from whom decision-makers need to hear when making decisions that affect our communities. As stewards of their organizations, board members have the opportunity to serve as powerful champions for the missions they serve and as ambassadors who can bridge differences in opinion and share tested solutions to community problems.

"There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States with an estimated 20 million board members," said Wallestad. "The most useful and under-utilized asset our organizations have to advance our missions are the business leaders, community volunteers, philanthropists, and opinion leaders who are so passionate about what our missions seek to achieve. They have already put their time, resources, and reputations on the line. Strong board leadership is not just about checks and balances; it is about standing for our missions through advocacy."

The campaign calls on all nonprofit board leaders to stand up for the organizations they believe in by actively representing their organization's mission and values, and by creating public will for solutions to community challenges.  

The goals of the Stand for Your Mission campaign are to

• bring about a sustainable shift in the understanding and expectations around board engagement in advocacy
• move advocacy from an ancillary to a key board leadership role
• strengthen the nonprofit sector's ability to advance the public good

"Nonprofit organizations need to advocate boldly to accomplish their missions. Board commitment and leadership are essential to ensuring this happens," said Abby Levine, legal director, Bolder Advocacy, Alliance for Justice.

"The nonprofit sector is an essential part of every community in this country," said Sonya Campion, trustee of the Campion Foundation. "Public policy affects everything we do, and we can either take a seat at the table or sweep up the crumbs afterwards. Mobilizing board members to speak up is a way to help influence our country's priorities and not surrender to the money in politics that are the main influences today."

"Advocacy is essential to mission delivery," said Tim Delaney, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. "Several years ago, our board of nonprofit leaders from across the country unanimously adopted a resolution affirming that 'Advocacy should be part of the daily routine of nonprofit organizations.' Why? Because they knew the proud legacy of improvements that nonprofits had made in their local communities through advocacy, saw the growing policy threats to impose new burdens on nonprofits, and recognized that advocacy is one of the most powerful tools for nonprofits to advance their missions."

The launch of this campaign includes the unveiling of the Stand for Your Mission website, which features a discussion guide designed to help nonprofit boards start on the path toward greater impact through advocacy. 

SOURCE BoardSource