New ACT!Quick Tool Helps Nonprofits Make the Most of Vital Resources
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 7 – Bolder Advocacy, a project of Alliance for Justice, announced today that it is offering a new, free tool for nonprofits seeking a quick diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses in their advocacy strategies. The tool is called ACT!Quick, and is a streamlined version of Alliance for Justice’s Advocacy Capacity Tool (ACT). ACT!Quick can be downloaded or completed online in minutes. By answering a few key questions, organizations get immediate feedback about critical needs in their advocacy strategy – and where to concentrate valuable resources to create better results.
“In less time than it takes to make and drink a cup of coffee, ACT!Quick gives organizations actionable information on their advocacy work,” said Sue Hoeschstetter, Alliance for Justice Senior Advisor for Foundation Advocacy and Evaluation. “There are many wonderful nonprofits working hard for justice and social change. This tool helps them learn how to become stronger right away, so they can make the most of staff resources as well as every donor dollar.”
“ACT!Quick helped us to identify our strengths,” added Erica Corpuz, Youth Wellness Advocate at Community Health for Asian Americans. “By looking at each capacity area, like organizational operations for advocacy, we clearly know where our organization is strong and where we need to build. It really took only 10 minutes to complete.”
“Using ACT!Quick, in 5 minutes I was able to think about how we do advocacy at Color Of Change,” said Keith Goodman, Chief of Staff and Operations at Color Of Change. “It’s a helpful guiding exercise for being more intentional about building our capacity.”
The ACT!Quick tool can be used by an organization’s chief executive, by a Board of Directors, or by groups in a training setting. It can be used as preparation for taking the full ACT assessment test, and repeated every few months as a “checkup” to gauge progress over time.
ACT!Quick is just one of the ways in which Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy program helps nonprofits strengthen their advocacy work. Bolder Advocacy provides trainings and technical assistance on advocacy capacity and its capacity assessment tools. These tools can be personalized for different organizations and coalitions.
Bolder Advocacy promotes active engagement in democratic processes and institutions by giving nonprofits and foundations the confidence to advocate effectively and by protecting their right to do so. Our goal is to demystify and decode advocacy by equipping organizations with knowledge and tools. We help organizations fully understand the rules and become assertive in their right to pursue their policy goals.