Understanding What Nonprofits Say Versus What They Do When It Comes to Advocacy

This paper explores a notable paradox in nonprofit advocacy: nonprofit leaders frequently claim in surveys and interviews that they do not engage in advocacy or lobbying, but many of them often report conducting activities that qualify as such. This discrepancy, which we call the say/do gap, warrants further examination as it suggests that nonprofit advocacy may be more widespread than recent studies indicate. Drawing on the first nationally representative survey of U.S. nonprofit advocacy in two decades, this paper examines the say/do gap. Building on previous nonprofit advocacy research, we analyze why nonprofits report differently than they act, finding that discrepancies are linked to legal knowledge, coalition membership, stakeholder influence, and the institutional environment. We argue that the say/do gap results from the decoupling of policies and practices around advocacy, which enables nonprofits to leverage the benefits of advocacy while navigating stakeholder demands.