What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization? A Framework for Determining Advocacy Capacity

In an effort to develop frameworks and methodologies to be able to meaningfully evaluate policy change efforts, TCC Group conducted an evaluation of a cohort of advocacy organizations who were receiving general support from The California Endowment.

This resulting paper draws on a variety of sources, looking at the context for policy and advocacy work and the distinctive characteristics of such work, outlining a model for evaluating organizational capacity and describing how this is adapted for advocacy organizations.

This piece serves to benefit foundations who want to expand and improve their grantmaking to advocacy organizations but feel limited by their ability to understand how to assess potential grantees or their capacity to carry out the proposed activities; as well as provide insights to evaluators themselves.