Advocacy by Nonprofit Human Service Agencies: Organizational Factors as Correlates to Advocacy Behavior

This article reports and analyzes findings of a mixed methods study which examined correlations between select organizational factors-budget size, staff size, age, local government funding, and leadership-and the advocacy behavior of human service agencies in Washington, DC. Surveys were sent to 100 agency executive directors, and 43 were returned. Follow-up interviews with staff from the five highest scoring and five lowest scoring agencies are reported. Findings show that budget size, staff size, leadership, and local government funding are positively correlated to agency advocacy behavior. Barriers and enhancements to agency advocacy behavior are also discussed. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.