How Nonprofits Lose Out When Volunteer Advocates Are Asked to Do Little Real Advocacy

Since I founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980, I have been a staunch believer in the power of nonprofits to turn disengaged Americans into effective advocates. When citizens put down their smart phones and come together for the common good, they gain a sense of agency. Democracy itself grows stronger.

But many nonprofits shy from the training and encouragement that is the foundation of such transformation. Instead, they offer a steady stream of petitions to sign and checks to write, something I call transactional advocacy. Rather than invest in developing true advocates, they tell us our money matters to the organization and the issue but not our voices.