Advocacy on a Tightrope: Effects of Government Funding and Perceived Support for Advocacy on Nonprofit Cooperative and Confrontational Advocacy Tactics

ABSTRACT

In nonprofit literature, there is evidence that a more relative dependence on public funding tends to result in nonprofits relying more heavily on insider/cooperative rather than outsider/confrontational advocacy. This led some researchers to believe that there is a resource imbalance between nonprofits and governments while others were convinced of a balance. However, there is hardly any empirical evidence that tests these assumptions. In this paper, we aim to address this research gap by examining the moderating effect of public funding and public service delivery on the relationship between nonprofit perceptions of government support for advocacy and advocacy tactics. Based on a survey of Flemish nonprofits, we find that these nonprofit organizations more frequently use cooperative insider rather than confrontational outsider tactics. Moreover, public funding and public service delivery are important explanatory and moderating variables.