The Scarlet Letter as a Badge of Pride
posted on: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
by Lisa Ranghelli
I want to give a shout out to the Alliance for Justice for their new website, Bolder Advocacy. I love the name and also the tag line, “Change the world with confidence.”
How many grantmakers think about advocacy and its potential role in achieving their mission, from a fully informed perspective, so that they can operate with bold confidence rather than trepidation and fear?
When I first joined NCRP, I asked my peers to what extent funders had shifted on the question of advocacy over the last few decades. One person said that the “A” in advocacy used to be akin to the Scarlet Letter. Like the adultery committed in Hawthorne’s novel, it was a symbol of failure to adhere to the mores of the community, a sign of risky behavior, even law-breaking.
So we have come a long way from that being the prevalent view. And yet, I suspect that for many board members and CEOs, fear of the Scarlet Letter still pervades their thinking, and the thinking of the lawyers who advise them.
In this day of information at our fingertips, including free legal advice, there is no excuse for that mentality.
With AFJ's new and improved website, there is no longer an excuse for avoiding the “A” word—in fact, this site will make you want to embrace it and wear it stitched on your shirt with pride! (Imagine if every funder who supported advocacy had worn an A on their shirt at the recent Council on Foundations conference. Would more grantmakers be curious and seek information?)
Some features I love about the website:
• Two search functions, one for novices and one for experienced users.
• Examples of foundation and nonprofit advocacy success stories right on the home page.
• ‘Focus on Foundations’ tab: a searchable trove of documents on Rules and Regulations for funding and engaging in advocacy.
From the website, users can also access AFJ’s revamped online Advocacy Capacity Tool (ACT) to assess their organization’s advocacy capacity and, eventually, be able to see how they compare to their peers.
It’s time to embrace the Scarlet Letter.
Lisa Ranghelli is the director of NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project.Labels: Alliance for Justice, foundation support for advocacy and organizing, nonprofit advocacy
by Lisa Ranghelli
I want to give a shout out to the Alliance for Justice for their new website, Bolder Advocacy. I love the name and also the tag line, “Change the world with confidence.”
How many grantmakers think about advocacy and its potential role in achieving their mission, from a fully informed perspective, so that they can operate with bold confidence rather than trepidation and fear?
When I first joined NCRP, I asked my peers to what extent funders had shifted on the question of advocacy over the last few decades. One person said that the “A” in advocacy used to be akin to the Scarlet Letter. Like the adultery committed in Hawthorne’s novel, it was a symbol of failure to adhere to the mores of the community, a sign of risky behavior, even law-breaking.
So we have come a long way from that being the prevalent view. And yet, I suspect that for many board members and CEOs, fear of the Scarlet Letter still pervades their thinking, and the thinking of the lawyers who advise them.
In this day of information at our fingertips, including free legal advice, there is no excuse for that mentality.
With AFJ's new and improved website, there is no longer an excuse for avoiding the “A” word—in fact, this site will make you want to embrace it and wear it stitched on your shirt with pride! (Imagine if every funder who supported advocacy had worn an A on their shirt at the recent Council on Foundations conference. Would more grantmakers be curious and seek information?)
Some features I love about the website:
• Two search functions, one for novices and one for experienced users.
• Examples of foundation and nonprofit advocacy success stories right on the home page.
• ‘Focus on Foundations’ tab: a searchable trove of documents on Rules and Regulations for funding and engaging in advocacy.
• Two search functions, one for novices and one for experienced users.
• Examples of foundation and nonprofit advocacy success stories right on the home page.
• ‘Focus on Foundations’ tab: a searchable trove of documents on Rules and Regulations for funding and engaging in advocacy.
From the website, users can also access AFJ’s revamped online Advocacy Capacity Tool (ACT) to assess their organization’s advocacy capacity and, eventually, be able to see how they compare to their peers.
It’s time to embrace the Scarlet Letter.
Lisa Ranghelli is the director of NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project.
Labels: Alliance for Justice, foundation support for advocacy and organizing, nonprofit advocacy
posted by Lisa Ranghelli at
8:51 AM
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