Advocacy activities in nonprofit human service organizations: Implications for policy

The article describes political and advocacy activity in nonprofit human service organizations for children, elderly people, women, and people with disabilities. On the whole, the level of their political activity was found to be moderate, as perceived by the directors of the organizations. The main findings reveal a significant positive correlation between advocacy and political activity in nonprofit organizations and their perceived influence on setting the public agenda. Analysis of the findings indicates that the larger the number of volunteers in the organization, the greater the organization's political influence. In addition, it was found that the more dependent the organizations were on funding from local authorities, the lower the level of advocacy and political activity. The effectiveness of strategies used to attain political influence was also analyzed. The most effective strategy was exerting pressure on decision makers, both on the national and local levels.