NPO Conversation at GMA on September 15

We invite leaders of nonprofit organizations to join us each quarter for a brown-bag lunch discussion about issues, ideas, and concerns in the nonprofit and philanthropic community. The meetings are a time for us to move beyond the usual conversation between foundations and nonprofit organizations. Each session focuses on a particular topic, and reservations are required. Guests will learn a little more about GMA and a lot about their peers’ perspectives on important issues.

Topic for Conversation: Advocacy, Organizing and Influencing Policy

Nonprofits and philanthropic donors seeking to change the world, striving for greater equity and prosperity, have embraced a variety of approaches to bringing about progress. Providing great services or developing new models of action are always important, but can be hard to scale to meet the need.

Seeking change by the truckload rather than the tablespoon, some see policy change as the best course of action. We are aware that effective policy solutions are hard to achieve and that many funders turn away from advocacy, which they incorrectly equate with direct lobbying. Still, when nonprofits win at organizing and advocacy, those triumphs can be big. We are eager for a frank discussion of how we can be better partners in this arena.

Read on for conversation outline and registration details:

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