C05 Session: Evaluating Advocacy Impact and Building Organizational Capacity

Advocacy is a powerful strategy for affecting social change.  More and more nonprofits are engaging in public policy advocacy either as a primary activity or as a complement to direct service.  But how do nonprofits – and the funders and consultants who support them – know if their advocacy efforts are paying off?

One obvious and important measure of advocacy impact and effectiveness is public policy change that advances the nonprofit's mission.  But looking only at what happens to a specific piece of legislation is overly simplistic and misses other – perhaps more important – outcomes that advance an organization’s public policy goals and overall capacity.  For example, engaging in public policy advocacy can lead to important changes in issue awareness and understanding, communication and negotiation skills, strength and diversity of relationships, visibility, and influence.  These changes can take place not only for a specific organization, but also for the coalitions in which it works and the community it serves.  These changes, in turn, can advance programmatic goals, organizational capacity, and efforts to build support for the organization and cause.

"Evaluation" and "advocacy" have become common, even popular, terms in the sector.  Yet they remain mysterious, confusing, and stress-inducing for many nonprofits.  This interactive session – designed for nonprofit capacity builders of all experience levels – will draw on practice and generate audience dialogue to identify and address challenges.

About the Presenters

Sheri Brady, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Sheri Brady joined the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) as Public Policy Project Director in September 2000 and was promoted to Director of Public Policy in 2001. She is responsible for policy development and research at NCNA. Prior to joining NCNA she worked at the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) where she was responsible for program development and policy research and development. At CPA she was responsible for coordinating regional issue forums, state policy roundtables, and strategic planning sessions for state legislators and grassroots activists. Prior to joining CPA, she worked for a national child advocacy organization focusing on welfare reform research and policy development. During her tenure at the National Association of Child Advocates, Sheri provided technical assistance to local and state based child advocacy organizations on a variety of policy issues. She volunteers in her community by serving as the President of the Mount Pleasant Friends of the Library and working with the Washington Area Women's Foundation where she helps provide capacity building grants and helps with grantee development. Sheri received her Juris Doctor (JD) from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Wheaton College.

Gita Gulati-Partee, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest

Gita Gulati-Partee consults to nonprofits on a range of management and organizational development needs through her firm OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc. She is Senior Consultant to Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI). She was recently the program director for public policy and editor of the bimonthly Common Ground at the NC Center for Nonprofits. Previously, Gita was a program officer with The Cleveland Foundation, where she conducted strategic grantmaking in arts and education and directed a technology capacity-building project. Earlier, Gita managed special projects for the National Society for Experiential Education, and she coordinated educational programs for the Duke University Talent Identification Program. Gita earned an MBA with concentrations in entrepreneurship and organizational behavior and a Certificate in Public Policy from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. She received her BA and Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. Gita has served in leadership positions with the N.C. Civic Education Consortium, N.C. Conservation Network, ncyt – NC's Network for Young Nonprofit Professionals, Triangle Community Foundation, American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, and a grassroots citizen campaign known as "Bullish on Durham."  Gita has published books and articles on advocacy, grantmaking, service-learning, and internships. She is a 2001-03 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

Nancy Kopf, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest

Nancy Kopf is an independent consultant specializing in helping nonprofit organizations design and implement their own evaluations. From 2000 to 2004 she served as a senior evaluator at Innovation Network, Inc., where she was one of the principle persons charged with evaluation design and implementation. A specialist in participatory evaluation, Nancy worked with the Environmental Support Center, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, NPower Greater DC Region (formally Technology Works for Good), Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Network, the Echoing Green Foundation, and Partners Against Hate. In addition to her evaluation work, Nancy is also a seasoned trainer. She has developed curricula and conducted training in evaluation design, logic modeling, and demystifying evaluation for a number of organizations, including The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Delaware Counsel for the Arts, VSAarts, the Especially for Nonprofits program of Virginia Commonwealth University, and PBS’ Ready to Learn program. Before joining Innovation Network, Nancy spent six years working in the research and evaluation department of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). During her tenure at MCPS she worked on the evaluation of a number of the school system’s projects, including the technology initiative and early literacy project. She also facilitated a series of teacher researcher groups. Nancy is a graduate of Boston University and holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.