Nonprofits as Advocates and Providers: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

While nonprofit organizations are frequently understood as influencing policy through advocacy, the policy influence of nonprofit service provision has not been widely acknowledged within the context of the policy process. In spite of this oversight, nonprofit organizations have significant discretion over the publicly funded services they provide, and public policy is continuously shaped through nonprofit service delivery. Furthermore, nonprofit organizations frequently embody the roles of interest group and policy implementer simultaneously. The advocate‐provider framework presented here situates these concurrent nonprofit functions within the policy process context. This framework connects research and theory across policy process, public management, and nonprofit management scholarship. The advocate‐provider perspective challenges assumptions from existing scholarship while highlighting the need for future research that jointly investigates nonprofit advocacy, public service provision, and policy processes.