Download the Executive Summary here.

Foundations that support advocacy historically have measured success by whether a policy “win” has been achieved–legislation was passed, a policy was funded, a program was scaled. 

These are important goals for sure, but we see time and again that wins can be vulnerable and, on their own, insufficient. Once achieved, they often face attacks. When political control shifts, wins can be reversed. In addition, wins are only as successful as their implementation. If they are not monitored and implemented effectively, they are just words on paper or empty promises.

While philanthropy generally recognizes that the time required to get to a win can be long-term and that there are other important measures of progress along the way, advocacy strategies designed for the sole purpose of winning can come up short when the goal is long-term change and systems transformation. Wins are incremental steps toward a longer-term goal. No single policy win will solve the deeper complex and systemic problems we currently face as a country.

This point has additional significance for foundations that aim to advance racial equity and justice through their advocacy efforts. If advancing equity through advocacy is the goal, measures of success must include attention to what was won (the win should help address racial disparities and their root causes) and how it was won (communities impacted by the problem should be centered in the work).

Achieving wins that sustain and equitably meet the needs of impacted communities—who also are best positioned to continue advocating for wins after they are achieved—requires an orientation to funding advocacy that is focused on more than just what it takes to achieve a win. 

It requires advocacy that builds power.

This report, and the evaluation that informed it, examines what it takes for advocacy to build power in addition to achieving wins.

While getting policy wins and systems changes remains a necessary and important objective, what does it mean to center impacted communities as the drivers of change? What does it mean to make building their power the ultimate goal of advocacy work? What does it require of the broader ecosystem of actors—funders, professional advocates, and other allies—who also are involved in the work?

The California Endowment supported the Center for Evaluation Innovation and our partner Gigi Barsoum to examine what it takes for advocacy to build power through an evaluation of advocacy efforts that were part of the 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative. 

Our report, and the evaluation that informed it, examines what it takes for advocacy to build power in addition to achieving wins.

For advocacy funders and advocates, the report offers findings about advocacy that builds power and how it is distinct from advocacy just focused on wins.

For advocacy evaluators, the report offers the conceptual power building framework we used to guide data collection and analysis.

This report is a companion to the 2020 report produced by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), An Ecosystem to Build Power and Advance Health and Racial Equity. The CSSP and CEI evaluation teams collaborated on data collection and shared the same data and conceptual framework.