Thinking strategically about how nonprofits should respond to potentially polarizing world events.

Stanford Social Innovation Review, March 27, 2024.

For nonprofit communications professionals (and nonprofit executives), the very worst time to talk about public advocacy around divisive issues is when you most urgently need to talk about them. This is especially true when there are disagreements about a hot-button issue within the organization’s team and board. Stakes are high, emotions run hot, and people talk past each other they’re trying to have different (related but distinct) arguments.

In this article, I discuss why getting to internal clarity is the vital first step; why we need to distinguish between a stance, a tolerance range, and an advocacy strategy; and why we need to talk about these concepts systematically, outside the context of individual issues and individual “day after a big news event” conversations.