Friends or Foes? How Managerial Perceptions of the Political Opportunity Structure Shape Nonprofit Advocacy

Abstract

Policy advocacy is an important tool that nonprofit managers use to build relationships with public officials and others in furtherance of their charitable missions. Through advocacy, nonprofits work to promote policies affecting their constituencies, maintain public funding, or strengthen the nonprofit sector as a whole. Scholarship on nonprofit advocacy often considers the organizational or resource environment, however, insufficient attention has focused on the policy environment as a factor shaping nonprofit advocacy. This article draws on the concept of political opportunity structure from the sociological study of social movements to understand nonprofit policy advocacy. The political opportunity framework focuses on how aspects of the political environment influence political action. Using data from a recent statewide survey of Massachusetts nonprofit organizations (n = 656, 55% response rate), we find evidence of a nonlinear relationship between managers’ perceptions of the political opportunity structure and the likelihood that a nonprofit engages in policy advocacy.