Abstract
Abstract Research on nonprofit advocacy has grown in recent years, and many nonprofit organizations have expanded and refined their efforts to influence public policies in ways they believe will benefit society. Despite the growing body of literature on nonprofit advocacy, there is substantial room for development on questions related to public perceptions of nonprofit advocacy activities. Utilizing an experimental design, we examine the ways in which the involvement of a nonprofit organization in the policy process can shift public opinion regarding a specific policy proposal. We also explore how these perceptions vary when we introduce political conflict that questions the effectiveness of the proposed policy. We find that in the absence of political controversy, the involvement of nonprofits in the policy process can significantly increase positive perceptions, relative to the control condition in which there is no mention on nonprofit involvement. However, we also find that the ways in which nonprofit involvement could boost support for a policy proposal may not hold when there is conflict over the policy in question.
Highlights
Introduction of ConflictThe counterargument to Senator Hartman’s position offered in Treatments 4–6 comes from the perspective of a university president who chairs a council of higher education leaders
We examine the ways in which the involvement of a nonprofit organization in the policy process can shift public opinion regarding a specific policy proposal
We find that in the absence of political controversy, the involvement of nonprofits in the policy process can significantly increase positive perceptions, relative to the control condition in which there is no mention on nonprofit involvement
Summary
Scholars have documented the many ways in which nonprofits provide a source of social capital in building an active and informed civil society that is better able to represent the diversity of preferences in the public (Graddy and Wang 2009; LeRoux and Feeney 2014; Ott and Dicke 2015; Rasiah et al 2017; Schneider 2007). Through the participatory governance structures, sponsorship of petitions and social causes, volunteerism, and grassroots engagement of communities, nonprofits are key in the development of a thriving civil society that forms the foundation of a well-functioning democracy (Douglas 1987; LeRoux and Feeney 2014; Ott and Dicke 2015; Powell and Steinberg 2006; Rasiah et al 2017). This existing work often examines nonprofit advocacy that is either primarily focused on efforts to advocate on behalf of the organization’s clientele (Bass et al 2007; Berry and Arons 2005; Fyall 2016, 2017; Fyall and Allard 2017; Fyall and McGuire 2015; Fyall and Levine Daniel 2018; Nicholson-Crotty 2009; Salamon, Geller, and Lorentz 2008; Wiley and Berry 2018) or efforts by large,. Nonprofit advocacy organizations and philanthropic foundations are increasingly engaged in the policymaking process (Buffardi, Pekkanen, and Smith 2017; Grønbjerg and Prakash 2016; LeRoux 2009, 2011; LeRoux and Krawczyk 2014)
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