Organizational Resources and Environmental Incentives: Understanding the Policy Advocacy Involvement of Human Service Nonprofits

Abstract

Participation in policy advocacy by human service nonprofits has the potential to both strategically position organizations in their environment and promote client well‐being. Despite these possible benefits, however, many human service nonprofits do not engage in policy advocacy. This article helps explain why, by placing advocacy involvement in a broad theoretical context and providing evidence on the factors that best explain involvement. It presents a new conceptual framework that employs both resource mobilization theory and resource dependency theory to outline why a variety of organizational resources and environmental incentives may influence participation. That framework is assessed using large‐scale survey data. Results suggest that advocacy is most common among organizations that have already achieved some success, as evidenced by having relatively large size, professional leadership, strong collaborative ties, use of e‐mail, and high levels of government funding. Overall, advocacy is found to be a more professionalized endeavor than previously thought.