When I’m Awake at 2:00 am, I Think About Strategic Plans with “Advocacy” in Them

1 hour ago
4 min read

When I’m awake at 2:00 am, my brain doesn’t spiral about embarrassing things I said years ago or whether I forgot to reply to an email (ok, sometimes it does). It goes somewhere much more specific and boring.

I think about all the nonprofit strategic plans being written right now that include advocacy as a priority, by strategic planners who know nothing about advocacy.

And then I think about how many of those organizations have no real idea how to implement it.

This worry was reinforced recently in a conversation with a colleague of mine who focuses on nonprofit strategic planning. She shared that advocacy is now showing up in nearly every strategic plan she facilitates.

Sometimes it’s its own pillar. Sometimes it’s bundled together with marketing, communications, branding, or “telling our story.” Sometimes it shows up as a call to leverage the board more, develop an advocacy plan, or do a better job of educating policymakers.

From her vantage point, this shift makes sense. Boards, funders, and communities are all asking nonprofits to step into their influence more intentionally. The challenge, she said, is not getting advocacy into the plan. It’s what happens after the plan is approved.

That’s the part that keeps me up at night.

Advocacy Is Not a Line Item You Hand Off

What I see over and over again is a very familiar pattern. A board retreat goes well. The new strategic plan feels thoughtful and forward-looking. Advocacy is named as important. Then, in the implementation phase, advocacy becomes a task to hand to staff.

“Develop an advocacy plan.”

“Engage the board more.”

“Educate policymakers.”

And then everyone moves on.

Staff are expected to figure out advocacy on top of already full plates. They are running programs, fundraising, managing people, responding to crises, and meeting funder expectations. Advocacy becomes something everyone agrees matters, but no one quite knows how to operationalize.

At that point, advocacy often stalls, or becomes reactive, or quietly disappears until the next strategic planning cycle.

Hiring a Lobbyist Is Not an Advocacy Strategy

One of the most common responses organizations have when advocacy enters the picture is to assume they need a lobbyist. Sometimes they do. Often they do not.

But a lobbyist is not an advocacy strategy.

A lobbyist cannot clarify priorities that are still fuzzy. A lobbyist cannot fix unclear messaging or disengaged boards. A lobbyist cannot resolve internal confusion about an organization's role in a coalition or how its credibility should be leveraged.

Without a plan, advocacy efforts tend to be scattered and frustrating. Organizations start contacting lawmakers without clarity about what they are actually asking for, who should be doing the asking, or how that work connects back to their mission and community.

That is not a failure of effort. It’s a failure of structure.

Advocacy Is a Long Game, Not a One-Year Add-On

Another thing that gets lost when advocacy is added late in a strategic planning process is that advocacy is not a one-year initiative.

It is a long-term investment in influence.

Effective advocacy requires internal alignment, training, and relationship-building. It requires understanding the difference between how you talk to policymakers and how you talk to your supporters. It requires knowing which coalitions already exist in your space and how to show up as a constructive, trusted partner.

It also requires honesty about where an organization is starting from.

Some organizations have been “doing advocacy” for years but aren’t seeing results. Others are just beginning to realize that their voice matters at all. Neither is wrong, but they require very different approaches.

Treating advocacy like a box to check after a plan is written almost guarantees disappointment.

What I Wish Strategic Planners Had at Their Fingertips

If I could wave a magic wand for every strategic planner trying to prioritize advocacy thoughtfully, it would be this:

I wish you would say, “Advocacy matters, and it will take more than good intentions to do it well.”

I wish advocacy didn’t get flattened into a vague bucket alongside marketing and communications, or treated as something staff can just figure out once the strategic plan is approved.

And I wish more organizations understood that having advocacy in a strategic plan is not the finish line. It’s the starting point.

When advocacy is done well, it strengthens programs, deepens board engagement, sharpens messaging, and positions organizations as credible players in decision-making.

When it’s done poorly or half-heartedly, it becomes another dusty section of a plan that never quite translates into action.

That difference matters. And it’s worth slowing down to get right.

Start With the Framework

If advocacy is one of your strategic priorities, take a look at this Advocacy Roadmap Readiness Guide. It outlines what you need in place to be ready for the full roadmap process.

If you are ready to move from reactive advocacy to strategic leadership, schedule a discovery call. We will discuss your current grassroots advocacy capacity and structural gaps, and determine whether a customized Advocacy Roadmap is the right next step.