HANO presents advocacy workshop for arts nonprofits
Putting its consulting services to work to strengthen nonprofits and support advocacy efforts at all levels of the nonprofit sector, HANO on April 16 and 17 conducted advocacy training for arts and culture grantees at the request of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
“We are always searching for better ways to serve Hawaii's arts community,” said Michael Naylor, Community Arts Coordinator for HSFCA. “Given the current state of our economy I felt that we had to take a more holistic approach to supporting our partner organizations. They know what their community needs are and they want to tell their own story to their stakeholders and legislators. This workshop was a way for us to give them some of the tools they need to do that effectively.”
The training, the “2009 Arts Administrators Workshop – Advocacy for Nonprofit Arts Organizations,” was held at the YWCA of Oahu in collaboration with the Hawaii Arts Alliance and the Western State Arts Federation. Bill Musick of Tower Hill Resources and Naylor, were presenters, along with Marla Musick of the Hawaii Arts Alliance and Bill Flood of WESTAF, who discussed specific local and national perspectives.
According to experts, Musick said, “ ‘high-impact’ organizations make advocacy a significant goal alongside service, … inspire evangelists and nurture nonprofit networks. These three practices are the hallmark of an organization that wields influence in its community.”
Thirty administrators from Hawaii culture and arts organizations across the state attended. In a survey prior to the workshop, 87percent said they thought their organizations should do more advocacy. The reasons holding them back were almost identical to other studies of all types of nonprofit organizations: time; lack of skills or knowledge; lack of relationships; reluctance to get involved in politics and concerns about violating the law.
The workshop explored topics such as:
- Why advocacy is important for culture and arts nonprofits, both at the legislature and in the community to inform and connect people with their programs.
- The nuts and bolts of complying with the county, state and federal lobbying laws.
- Developing advocacy policies.
- Tips for effective advocacy.
- Advocacy themes culture and arts organizations have in common and developing unique messages for each organization.
- Creating advocacy action plans.
- Sustaining advocacy momentum.
“Effective advocacy is about creating awareness, building relationships and delivering a message that is consistent and positive,” said HSFCA’s Naylor. “Everyone who attended the workshop began working on a plan of action. We are continuing to build a network of nonprofit arts administrators to keep in touch and monitor each other's progress.”
Musick added, “Influence with any person, government officials included, involves building trust. The keys to building trust are credibility, reliability, and detailed knowledge. Those can only be developed with a systematic and intentional effort over the long term. It’s not something that can exist with a one-time reaction to a threat.”
HANO will work with Musick to present several open-forum workshops later this year. If your group or organization is interested in training on advocacy, board governance, proposal writing, outcomes, strategic planning or other topics common to nonprofits, contact Lily Bloom Domingo, (808) 529-0466 or lbdomingo@hano-hawaii.org.
