A new study of Los Angeles County nonprofit groups concludes that spending on advocacy and local organizing can yield significant returns for the people and neighborhoods the organizations aim to serve, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Every dollar spent by advocacy groups in the study produced $91 in benefits to local residents, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, in Washington.
The watchdog group said the $75.5-million spent on advocacy by 15 groups promoting causes such as school construction and increases in the minimum wage generated nearly $6.89-billion in benefits, well above “the kind of bang for the buck that you get when you invest in funding direct services,” said Aaron Dorfman, the center’s executive director.
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2 Responses to L.A. Study Finds ‘Bang for the Buck’ in Groups’ Advocacy Spending
educationfunders - March 4, 2010 at 6:16 pm
The 240+ members of our grantmakers network, who collectively represente $1.5 billion in education funding annually, increasingly see policy work as integral to their missions. Nearly two thirds are already funding policy, and we’ve just published a guide for infuencing education policy that will help those funders deepen their strategies and allow others to join in policy work, available at http://edfunders.org/downloads/GFEReports/GFE_InfluencingEdPolicy.pdf .Lois LeveenGrantmakers for Educationwww.edfunders.org
sojodev - March 5, 2010 at 10:20 am
Does anyone know if there have been any national equivalents of this study? Would be good to show funders the impact that national advocacy efforts can have. Thanks.