NONPROFIT ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS - ASSESSING THE DEFINITIONS, CLASSIFICATIONS, AND DATA

This article reviews how research on nonprofit organizations has tradi tionally defined advocacy and its function in the public policy proces s as rights-based expression and association and suggests the usefulne ss of an expanded definition. Nonprofits participate in a variety of p ublic decisions at different points in the policy cycle. The authors a rgue that building social capital, facilitating civic participation, a nd providing public voice are activities central to an analysis of the interaction of nonprofits and public policy in democratic civil socie ty. The article also analyzes the IRS data sets and National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) classification system available to researche rs from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) to assess their strengths and weaknesses for measuring advocacy activities. By evaluating the problems in accurately describing, analyzing, and colle cting data on nonprofit organizations that facilitate a public role in decision making, this article develops some alternative definitions a nd models of advocacy.