Atlantic Reports: "Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations"

I’m glad to share with you The Atlantic Philanthropies’ first publication, “Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations.” This publication launches our series Atlantic Reports, which is dedicated to sharing lessons from our work and that of our grantees and other foundations.

“Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations” explores the experiences of a growing number of funders around the world who are committed to supporting advocacy as a strategy to advance social change. We selected it as the first topic of the series because funding advocacy too often is the philanthropic road not taken, yet it is a road most likely to lead to the kind of lasting change that philanthropy has long sought through other kinds of grants.

This report describes various forms of advocacy that a foundation can support, including commissioning research, policy development, community organising, coalition work, legislative lobbying, litigation, mass campaigns and more. Drawing on the work of Atlantic, other foundations and several organisations in the United States, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and South Africa, this publication identifies a number of key questions for funders and potential funders to consider before investing in advocacy.

We hope that Atlantic Reports will be of value to you and others, particularly because we are on a path to spend our entire endowment and close our doors no later than 2020. Future Atlantic Reports will focus on grantmaking lessons to help funders and potential funders who wish to support lasting change. Upcoming publications will consider case studies, including advocacy to benefit rural farmworkers in South Africa and efforts to support reconciliation among ex-combatants in Northern Ireland and South Africa. Others will focus on issues related to grantmaking, including the importance of investing in the field of ageing, exploring the benefits of “giving while living” and the challenges of and opportunities from spending down a foundation’s endowment by a specific date.

Thanks for your interest in Atlantic Reports, and please let us know what you think of this first one by dropping me a line at gara@atlanticphilanthropies.org. If you are interested in receiving future Atlantic Reports, email atlanticreports@atlanticphilanthropies.org.

Gara LaMarche

President and CEO
The Atlantic Philanthropies