Advocacy should be central to the work of every nonprofit.
Some years ago, I attended a discussion at a Philanthropy New York event where the late, great civic leader Richard Ravitch (former lieutenant governor, chair of the MTA and a member of the team that helped save New York City from its fiscal crisis in the 1970s) recalled state budget negotiations and how they were conducted. It was almost always, he said, a battle between business and labor and what they wanted. Gesturing to the nonprofit and foundation leaders in the audience, he said: “You all were never at the table.”
I reflected on this when the Human Services Council of New York and the New York City Employment and Training Coalition recently hosted a forum entitled “Resilience and Prosperity: The Future of Human Services and Economic Mobility in NYC.” It featured five of the leading candidates for mayor — Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos and Scott Stringer. (Mayor Eric Adams was invited but did not attend.) The event was well attended, with the leaders of many human service and workforce development organizations in the audience listening attentively as Katie Honan of THE CITY quizzed the candidates about issues of contracting, procurement and funding. For the most part, the candidates had specific answers or solutions informed by their experience or observations.
Before the candidates took the stage, two of the best advocates representing the city’s nonprofit sector — the unsinkable Michelle Jackson of the Human Services Council and the nimble-minded Greg Morris of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition — reviewed the issues facing the sector. They stressed the size and scope of the sector in terms of revenue and how many people the sector employed (many of them women of color).
The program was professionally produced — at a slick venue, featuring prominent politicians and broadcasting a clear underlying message about the importance of the nonprofit sector and its positive impact on the city and its residents. If he were still alive, would Ravitch say we are now at the table? Is this a case of “mission accomplished”?
Maybe.
The forum was a flexing of muscle that human service and employment nonprofits have always had but have not always used — or if they did, not powerfully enough to make a difference. But these last few years, Jackson and Morris and their colleagues have been working to strengthen those muscles so they can battle the forces that stand in the way of tackling the stubborn nature of poverty in the city.
How do the nonprofits that manage New York City’s social safety net — and receive $7.8 billion in contracts out of the City’s $112.6 billion FY 2025 budget — up their advocacy game? The question becomes even more profound with the change in the White House, Republican control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seeking to trim $2 trillion out of the $6.75 trillion federal budget. DOGE’s goals will be tough to accomplish once the Silicon Valley billionaires realize that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for two-thirds of mandatory spending, and these are programs that Donald Trump promised voters he wouldn’t cut or reduce. Given this reality, what we could see is reduced (or no) funding for crucial programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Head Start. Without question, nonprofit advocacy will be needed to inform policymakers and elected officials about the value of these long-standing and effective poverty-reducing programs.
In recent years, New York City human services and employment nonprofits have been working to strengthen their advocacy muscles so they can battle the forces that stand in the way of tackling the stubborn nature of poverty in the city.
While nonprofits have always advocated at the national, state and local levels, what makes today different are the stakes. They are incredibly high and will be even more so in the next few years.
At the local level, New York City nonprofits have had to fight for things they really should not have to argue about, including receiving cost of living adjustments (COLA), getting contracts registered and paid on time, and reforming the City’s procurement process. These concerns consume an incredible amount of time, energy and resources. They also divert attention and advocacy away from issues of greater concern or impact. Indeed, we are unlikely to make any dent on the poverty question if we don’t spend time thinking about what works or investigating which programs deserve scaling so that more individuals or families can benefit. That cannot happen, because the nonprofits devoted to fighting poverty have to spend time on tactical and operational issues like COLA increases. Further, City officials and administrators do not see the nonprofits as partners but rather as vendors — or worse, supplicants.
That noted, tactical campaigns can be worthwhile. Hatched at a gathering of human service leaders in Cooperstown in the fall of 2019, the Just Pay campaign, developed and executed by the Human Services Council, finally yielded this year from the City government a three-year, 9.25% COLA for human service employees. An investment of $741 million is no small victory.
New York City nonprofits have had to fight for things they really should not have to argue about, including receiving cost of living adjustments, getting contracts registered and paid on time, and reforming the City’s procurement process.
Much was learned over these few years. The Human Services Council enhanced its capacity to execute advocacy on behalf of its membership. Just Pay had the components of a modern campaign — messaging via traditional and social media, packaging, events (that put frontline workers at the center of the message), use of consultants and polling data and outreach — while at the same time pursuing the inside game of quietly meeting with policymakers to hammer out deals and legislation.
Building on the Just Pay success, the Human Services Council has established a 501(c)(4) called Human Services Action that recently published a scorecard on the legislative records of members of the New York City Council and the New York State Assembly and Senate. Unlike a typical nonprofit that cannot directly participate in electoral politics, a 501(c)(4) can (and will) endorse candidates in the coming election cycle.
Creating Human Services Action was not universally embraced by the sector. Some felt it was too aggressive to make such a move, that it now firmly places the sector in the political fray and that it further contributes to an already troubled environment of dark money and shadowy maneuvering. Time will tell if that is true and whether the sector will pay a price for it. On the other hand, it demonstrates how serious the Human Services Council and its members are about changing the dynamic and upping their advocacy game.
It is one thing for membership associations like the Human Services Council to be strong advocates. But it is also now essential for nonprofit organizations to amplify advocacy and not just leave it to the Council and other membership organizations like United Neighborhood Houses and Nonprofit New York. Nonprofits on the ground are closest to what is happening in the communities they serve. That real-time understanding of what’s going on should inform policy and the funding that is attached to it.
Unfortunately, many nonprofit organizations are so focused on the delivery of services or programs that they neglect to inform and advocate. It is amazing (and unfortunate) how many nonprofits do not communicate their impact to policymakers and elected officials. According to Independent Sector, only 31% of nonprofits report engaging in advocacy or lobbying over the last five years, which is less than half of the percentage of nonprofits that reported ever lobbying in 2000 (74%).
Many nonprofit executives remain hesitant to advocate, and when needed, lobby. Skittish lawyers and myths about what one can do or not do with advocacy have limited the sector’s ability to fight the good fight. However, the IRS rules and regulations on advocacy are actually quite clear, and groups like Alliance for Justice nationally and the Lawyers Alliance of New York locally provide thoughtful guidance on what a nonprofit can do.
If we are to change the paradigm for the poor in New York, and for that matter, in the United States, then advocacy can no longer be a satellite activity — it must be central to the work of every nonprofit. Further, it is more powerful when frontline providers (and their clients) make the case than, say, an academic, or a researcher from a think tank. What is happening in real time to real people and what can make a positive difference in their lives is far more compelling than statistics embedded in a slide deck or an Excel spreadsheet. Or put another way, advocacy efforts must always remember this formula: no stories without data and no data without stories.
What a nonprofit can do from an advocacy standpoint is, well, a lot. The first hurdle is to overcome the fear and hand-wringing of those stakeholders who worry that retribution is around the corner should a nonprofit take a stand. There is no question that a nonprofit’s board and staff should weigh carefully the risk involved. But in that conversation so, too, should the risk of not advocating be carefully weighed.
Advocacy efforts must always remember this formula: no stories without data and no data without stories.
Almost 250 years ago, Ben Franklin considered what forces would be needed to support and sustain the idea of community in this emerging country of ours. He knew there were services that would not be supported by the private sector because they would not be profitable, or by the government because it would be politically unpopular. A third force would be needed to provide those services to the poor and the infirm and to make education accessible to all. Franklin also knew that this force would have to be a place of free speech capable of engaging in what we now know as advocacy.
In 2025, we face a divisive political moment. The future of our country and its greatest city cannot be left to the whims of elected officials who pivot to whichever way the political winds blow (or to businesspeople who think they know better). That third force — the nonprofit sector — must show up powerfully (and thoughtfully) with stories, knowledge, facts and data to point a way forward that helps our communities not only succeed but thrive.