Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 - (Page 11)

Advocacy and Lobbying: Policies and Possibilities foundation sponsored a series of three workshops for donors during the summer and fall of 2008 designed to show the various ways they can help set and change public policy, as well as the difference between advocacy and outright lobbying. (See “Advocacy and Lobbying: Policies and Possibilities,” right, for more information.) An interactive survey that informs the public as it gathers opinions provides another way to sharpen the focus on specific issues. The brainchild of Stanford University Professor Jim Fishkin, “deliberative polling” brings a representative cross-section of a region’s population together for a day’s worth of impartially moderated discussions. Polls are conducted with the group before and after the moderated discussion to measure the session’s impact on participants. Fishkin, a fund advisor at the community foundation, has used this methodology with groups in Silicon Valley and around the world, most notably in San Mateo County alongside leaders of Threshold 2008, a months-long effort to increase public understanding of critical housing issues in the region. “We find that when people start discussing the issues, they become more engaged, and they tend to participate more [in public life] afterward,” Fishkin How, and even whether, a nonprofit should engage in lobbying or advocacy has perplexed charitable organizations for decades. “Community foundations can lobby,” says Abby Levine, deputy director of advocacy programs for Alliance for Justice (www.afj.org), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that educates organizations about advocacy. “I think organizations are just now starting to realize the great opportunity this provides for them.” Lobbying—through directly contacting legislators, expressing views on ballot measures or supporting the grassroots lobbying efforts of others, for example—faces more restrictions than other forms of advocacy. But while private philanthropies are highly restricted from lobbying by tax code, public charities and community foundations face limits but fewer restrictions. Groups such as Alliance for Justice and Silicon Valley Community Foundation work to help donors and organizations understand what those limits are and how they can encourage lobbying and other advocacy. Toward that end, the community foundation coordinated a series of summer and fall workshops to educate interested donors. The first featured representatives from foundations that have entered the policy realm. The second explored specific policy issues, and the third went into greater detail, exploring where a donor’s efforts might prove most valuable in the long run. The goal is to get more informed people more involved. “It’s important for people from foundations and nonprofits—people funding and doing work on housing issues, school issues or anything else—to be at the table with policymakers,” Levine says. “They can make sure good information is provided to legislators so that solutions are workable for the people who are affected.” www.siliconvalleycf.org Anne HAmersky http://www.afj.org http://www.siliconvalleycf.org

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Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 Contents From Emmett D. Carson The New Face of Need Five-star Philanthropy Ready to Learn Board School Civic Citizens Built to Last siliconvalleycf.org What If?

Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008

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