Step Into The Fight

Philanthropy’s Role in Legal Advocacy

Not long ago, at a health philanthropy conference, where some colleagues and I were presenting findings from research about how foundations can support advocacy in the policy implementation phase, the CEO of a large foundation raised his hand and asked, rather timidly, if there was anything in our research about foundation support for legal advocacy strategies or strategic litigation.

A week or so later, in a meeting with a program officer from a large state-based foundation, I was asked essentially the same thing: how can or should foundations engage in and support legal advocacy strategies?

These are important questions — and timely.

Over the last year, TCC Group has been conducting a field review into the world of legal advocacy in the nonprofit sector. Partnering with the Center for Evaluation Innovation and the Atlantic Philanthropies as part of the Atlas Learning Project, which aims to push advocacy in bolder and more effective directions, TCC Group examined how advocacy organizations use legal advocacy as a strategy and how funders can best support that work.

We are excited to share the results of TCC Group’s work to help inform funders, legal advocates, non-legal advocates, and evaluators about the field of legal advocacy.

Legal advocacy — also known as advocacy through the courts — uses the judicial system to advance social and policy change. This is often done through bringing forward a legal case in court that focuses on improving a situation for a particular group of disadvantaged people. But there are many layers and facets of legal advocacy beyond going to court.

We invite foundations to watch this short video to get a better understanding of what legal advocacy is and why it’s important.

As well, we encourage you to visit TCC Group’s legal advocacy page to learn more, access new legal advocacy guides for funders and advocates, and sign up to receive new reports on the context of the modern legal system and status of courts.

Foundations have a unique capability to engage in and support advocacy through the courts, and there are many lessons to learn about how to do that effectively.

Some content in this article was made available courtesy of TCC Group.